▲ 12 r/comicreadingorders+1 crossposts

[Other] Since nobody had ever done it, I made a Countdown to Final Crisis reading order

Superman #665 Death of the New Gods prologue (Jimmy Olsen origin story)
Seven Soldiers: Mister Miracle #1 Dark Side Club; Behind the scenes: Darkseid arrives here after falling back in time in DC Universe #0.
Seven Soldiers: Mister Miracle #2
Seven Soldiers: Mister Miracle #3
Seven Soldiers: Mister Miracle #4
Seven Soldiers of Victory #1 Dark Side Club
52 #1 Final Crisis: Revelations (Question begins fighting Religion of Crime); Death of the New Gods (Multiverse Earths become different from one another) Behind the scenes: The Source manipulated Booster Gold into making the Multiverse varied to facilitate killing the New Gods.
52 #2
52 #3
52 #4
52 #5
52 #6
52 #7
52 #8
52 #9
52 #10
52 #11 First appearance of the Monitors
52 #12
52 #13
52 #14
52 #15
52 #16
52 #17
52 #18
52 #19
52 #20
52 #21
52 #22
52 #23
52 #24
52 #25 Nightwing back-up story, featuring a Monitor appearance, takes place after Nightwing #125
52 #26
52 #27
52 #28
52 #29
52 #30
52 #31
52 #32
52 #33
52 #34
52 #35
52 #36
52 #37
52 #38
52 #39
52 #40
52 #41
52 #42
52 #43
52 #44
52 #45
52 #46
52 #47
52 #48
52 #49
52 #50
World War III #1
World War III #2
World War III #3
World War III #4 Monitors
52 #51
52 #52
DCU: Brave New World #1 Monitors; Dr. Fate: Countdown to Mystery (Mary Marvel enters coma)
Trials of Shazam! #1 Dr. Fate: Countdown to Mystery (Freddy leaves Mary)
Trials of Shazam! #2
Trials of Shazam! #3
Crisis Aftermath: The Spectre #1 Final Crisis: Revelations (Crispus Allen kills his son)
Crisis Aftermath: The Spectre #2
Crisis Aftermath: The Spectre #3
Battle for Blüdhaven #1 Countdown (Captain Atom becomes Monarch); Behind the scenes: The Monitor Solomon purposefully breached Captain Atom's armor to drive him insane.
Battle for Blüdhaven #2
Battle for Blüdhaven #3
Battle for Blüdhaven #4
Battle for Blüdhaven #5
Battle for Blüdhaven #6
Nightwing #125 Monitors
Ion #6 Monitors
Ion #7
Ion #8
Ion #9
Supergirl #13 Monitors
Supergirl #14
Supergirl #15
Supergirl #16
Supergirl #17
Supergirl #18
Supergirl #19
Ion #10 Monitors; Monarch
Ion #11
Ion #12
Justice League of America #1 Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds (Act I: Lightning Saga prelude; Trident appearances); Behind the scenes: Receiving a vision of the future where they're attacked by Superboy Prime, the Legion of Super-Heroes sends Legionnaries into the past to resurrect Bart Allen and Conner Kent; one of the Legionnaries, Karate Kid, carries within him the Morticoccus virus, which Monitor Solomon wants to use to bring about the Great Disaster and wrestle the Fifth World from Darkseid
Justice League of America #2
Justice League of America #3
Justice League of America #4
Justice League of America #5
Justice League of America #6
Justice League of America #7
Justice Society of America #1 Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds (Act I: Lightning Saga prelude; Starman appearances)
Justice Society of America #2
Justice Society of America #3
Justice Society of America #4
Blue Beetle #9 Salvation Run prelude (Planet Adon is cleansed from Devilance)
Blue Beetle #10
Blue Beetle #11
Catwoman #66 Amazons Attack prelude (Holly becomes a fugitive)
Catwoman #67
Catwoman #68
Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #9 Full Throttle (before the attack)
Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #10
Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #11
Countdown #51 Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds (Act I: Lightning Saga prelude); Full Throttle (before the attack); Behind the scenes: Pre-death DeSaad manipulates Pied Piper's role attack on Bart Allen because he holds the Anti-Life Equation; Darkseid manipulates Mary Marvel's corruption to make her a vessel for the post-death DeSaad; Monitor Solomon kills Duela Dent for being a Multiverse immigrant as bait to bring all the Multiverse anomalies together and take them out at the same time, with Monitor Bob playing along and pretending to ally himself with the anomalies
Countdown #50
Justice League of America #8 Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds (Act I: Lightning Saga)
Countdown #49 Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds (Act I: Lightning Saga); Full Throttle (before the attack); Death of the New Gods (Lightray); New Challengers (Joker's Daughter funeral); Behind the scenes: The Source is killing the New Gods using Infinity Man to bring about the Fifth World; Darkseid begins storing the dead Gods's energies in Jimmy Olsen as a triumph card against the Source
Countdown #48
Justice Society of America #5 Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds (Act I: Lightning Saga); Lightning Saga continues in Countdown #45
Wonder Woman #6 Amazons Attack prologue; Behind the scenes: Circe resurrects Hippolyta with a portion of her self, making Hippolyta murderous, to take revenge on the Gods; the Gods have been kidnapped and replaced by pre-death Granny Goodness, who will use Themyscira to recruit young women with the potential to host post-death Female Furies
Wonder Woman #7
Wonder Woman #8
Teen Titans #47 New Challengers (Countdown #48 crossover); Amazons Attack (Wonder Woman #8 crossover)
Countdown #47 Amazons Attack (Wonder Woman #8 crossover); Full Throttle (before the attack)
Amazons Attack! #1 Amazons Attack
Wonder Woman #9 Amazons Attack
Amazons Attack! #2 Amazons Attack (Donna and Jason scene continues in Countdown #46)
Countdown #46 Amazons Attack (Donna and Jason); Death of the New Gods (Sleez); Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds (Act I: Lightning Saga); Full Throttle (before the attack)
Countdown #45
Wonder Woman #10 Amazons Attack
Amazons Attack! #3 Amazons Attack
Teen Titans #48 Amazons Attack; Amazons attack continues in Countdown #41
Justice League of America #9 Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds (Act I: Lightning Saga)
Justice Society of America #6 Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds (Act I: Lightning Saga)
Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #12 Full Throttle (the attack; occurs at the same time as Justice League of America #10; funeral in flash-forward)
Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #13
Justice League of America #10 Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds (Act I: Lightning Saga; occurs at the same time as Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #13)
Countdown #44 Full Throttle (Piper and Trickster flee after the attack); Salvation Run (Suicide Squad trails Piper and Trickster)
All-Flash #1 Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds (Act I: Lightning Saga epilogue); Full Throttle epilogue; Salvation Run (Suicide Squad captures Rogues); Behind the scenes: The Suicide Squad captures villains and send them to planet Adon using Apokolips tech, not knowing Darkseid just wants villains as target practice to train his next batch of Parademons
Countdown #43 Full Throttle (Funeral); Salvation Run (Piper and Trickster escape Suicide Squad)
Countdown to Adventure #1 Continued from Countdown #43
Countdown to Adventure #2
The All-New Atom #12 New Challengers (Atom meets New Challengers); continued in Countdown #42; Behind the scenes: Ryan Choi joins other Multiverse anomalies in hunting for Ray Palmer, another Multiverse anomaly. Ryan isn't an anomaly himself, being brought into the hunt by fake leads planted by the Atom villain, Chronos
The All-New Atom #13
Countdown #42 Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds (Act I: Lightning Saga during Justice League of America #10); Full Throttle; Salvation Run (Suicide Squad capture Piper and Trickster); New Challengers meet Atom
Action Comics #852 Death of the New Gods
Dr. Fate: Countdown to Mystery #1 Eclipso returns to Earth; continues in Countdown #41
Amazons Attack! #4 Amazons Attack
Countdown #41 Amazons Attack #4 crossover; Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds (Act I: Lightning Saga finale during Justice League of America #10); Dr. Fate: Countdown to Mystery
Teen Titans #49 Amazons Attack
Supergirl #20 Amazons Attack
Catwoman #69 Amazons Attack
Catwoman #70
Wonder Woman #11 Amazons Attack
Amazons Attack! #5 Amazons Attack (Athena exposed as Granny Goodness)
Amazons Attack! #6
Wonder Woman #12 Amazons Attack aftermath
Wonder Woman #13
Wonder Girl #1 Amazons Attack aftermath; Death of the New Gods (Bloody Mary; Hercules prepares for God-Killer)
Wonder Girl #2
Wonder Girl #3
Wonder Girl #4
Wonder Girl #5
Wonder Girl #6
Blue Beetle #16 Eclipso after Dr. Fate: Countdown to Mystery #1
Booster Gold #1 After Wally is back in All-Flash #1; Final Crisis seen in flash-forward
Countdown #40 New Themyscira (Holly and Harley); Darkseid uses powers (he shouldn't regain them until Countdown #32, but that must be read as him regaining his "full" powers); Full Throttle; Salvation Run (Penguin sells Piper and Trickster to the Suicide Squad); Behind the scenes: DeSaad manipulates Penguin to further break Piper's soul and drive him to use the Anti-Life Equation
Firestorm the Nuclear Man #33 Professor Stein is taken to Bludhaven (continues in Countdown to Final Crisis #26); Darkseid uses powers; Behind the scenes: DeSaad lures Firestorm to Bludhaven to use him as a power source in Command-D, which hosts OMAC, with the goal of causing the Great Disaster on Earth 0
Firestorm the Nuclear Man #34
Firestorm the Nuclear Man #35
Action Comics #858 Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds Act II: Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes; happens before Jimmy's discovery in Countdown #37
Action Comics #859
Action Comics #860
Action Comics #861
Action Comics #862
Action Comics #863
Action Comics #864
Crime Bible: The Five Lessons of Blood #1 Final Crisis: Revelations; Question reunites with Batwoman before Countdown #39
Crime Bible: The Five Lessons of Blood #1
Crime Bible: The Five Lessons of Blood #1
All-New Atom #14 New Challengers (leads into Countdown #39)
Countdown #39 Salvation Run (Question and Batwoman)
Action Comics #853 Death of the New Gods (Continued from Countdown #39)
Green Arrow #73 Wedding of Green Arrow and Black Canary prelude (Ollie proposes); Behind the scenes: Shado plans to kill Green Arrow on his wedding night employing the League of Assassins, the Injustice League and Granny Goodness's New Themyscira in exchange for Sivana curing Shado's son's leukemia
Green Arrow #74
Green Arrow #75
Birds of Prey #109 Death of the New Gods (Knockout); Wedding of Green Arrow and Black Canary tie-in (Dinah hasn't accepted the proposal yet)
Black Canary #1 Wedding of Green Arrow and Black Canary prelude (Dinah accepts the proposal); leads into Countdown #38
Black Canary #2
Black Canary #3
Black Canary #4
Superman/Batman #43 Wedding of Green Arrow and Black Canary (Dr. Light joins the wedding crashers)
Countdown #38 Jimmy's scene continues in Action Comics #854; Death of the New Gods (Deep Six); Wedding of Green Arrow and Black Canary (wedding preparations)
Countdown #37
Action Comics #854 Death of the New Gods (Continued from Countdown #37)
Countdown #36 Death of the New Gods (Jimmy); Wedding of Green Arrow and Black Canary (wedding preparations; continues in Countdown #34)
Detective Comics #837 New Themyscira (Holly and Harley before Countdown #35); Salvation Run (rumors mentioned)
Sinestro Corps Special #1 Sinestro Corps War; Behind the scenes: The War will take Superboy Prime closer to the vision seen by the Legion; because of the war, the Guardians will create the Alpha Lanterns, led by Kraken, who will host post-death Granny Goodness
Countdown #35 Sinestro Corps War; New Themyscira (Holly and Harley prepare to leave for Themyscira)
Green Lantern #21 Sinestro Corps War
Green Lantern Corps #14 Sinestro Corps War
Green Lantern #22 Sinestro Corps War
Green Lantern Corps #15 Sinestro Corps War
Green Lantern #23 Sinestro Corps War
Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Parallax #1 Sinestro Corps War
Green Lantern Corps #16 Sinestro Corps War
Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Cyborg-Superman #1 Sinestro Corps War
Green Lantern #24 Sinestro Corps War
Green Lantern Corps #17 Sinestro Corps War
Teen Titans #50 Sinestro Corps War; Full Throttle (second funeral); Amazons Attack (ruins)
Teen Titans #51
Teen Titans #52
Teen Titans #53
Teen Titans #54
Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Superman Prime #1 Sinestro Corps War
Green Lantern Corps #18 Sinestro Corps War
Green Lantern #25 Sinestro Corps War; Alpha Lanterns (1st appearance of Kraken); Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns (Red Lantern prophesied); Superman Prime is sent to Countdown #31
Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Ion #1 Sinestro Corps War epilogue
Green Lantern Corps #19 Sinestro Corps War epilogue
Batman #655 Batman R.I.P. prelude
Batman #656
Batman #657
Batman #658
Batman #659
Batman #660
Batman #661
Batman #662
Batman #663
Batman #664
Batman #665
Batman #666
Batman #667
Batman #668
Batman #669
Batman #670
Robin #168 Batman R.I.P. prelude
Nightwing #138 Batman R.I.P. prelude
Detective Comics #838 Batman R.I.P. prelude
Batman #671 Batman R.I.P. prelude
Robin #169 Batman R.I.P. prelude
Nightwing #139 Batman R.I.P. prelude
Detective Comics #839 Batman R.I.P. prelude
Countdown #34 New Themyscira (Holly and Harley leave for New Themyscira); Wedding of Green Arrow and Black Canary (wedding preparations); Karate Kid (DeSaad); New Challengers (depart for the Multiverse, Kyle joins, Atom leaves)
Countdown #33
All-New Atom #15 Countdown #33 crosssover
All-New Atom #16
All-New Atom #20 Mystery villain plot from All-New Atom #15-16 is resolved
Supergirl #21 Karate Kid's Great Disaster tie-in; Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds prelude (second Legion mentioned)
Supergirl #22
Outsiders: Five of a Kind: Martian Manhunter/Thunder #1 Death of the New Gods (Grayven); continues in Outsiders: Five of a Kind: Wonder Woman/Grace #1
Outsiders: Five of a Kind: Wonder Woman/Grace #1 Amazons Attack (ruins); continues in Outsiders #50
Outsiders #50 Recap of Amazons Attack and Full Throttle; Salvation Run (Suicide Squad capture Tweedledee, Tweedledum, Crazy Quilt, Bolt)
Superman/Batman #37 After Outsiders: Five of a Kind: Martian Manhunter/Thunder #1 kills Grayven, before Green Arrow/Black Canary Wedding Special #1 captures Killer Croc; Death of the New Gods (Bekka); Darkseid regains (full) powers
Superman/Batman #38
Superman/Batman #39
Superman/Batman #40
Superman/Batman #41
Superman/Batman #42
Black Canary Wedding Planner #1 Wedding of Green Arrow and Black Canary (wedding preparations)
Justice League Wedding Special #1 Takes place after the Adam Strange stories in Dr. Fate: Countdown to Mystery #1-8, but it's not related to Countdown; Wedding of Green Arrow and Black Canary (bachelor parties); Firestorm looks for Darkseid
Countdown #32 Wedding of Green Arrow and Black Canary (bachelor parties); Barda is alive; New Challengers (Red Son, Crime Society), Dr. Fate: Countdown to Mystery (Mary meets Eclipso); New Themyscira (Holly and Harley leave for New Themyscira); Forerunner is with Monarch
Countdown Presents: The Search For Ray Palmer – Wildstorm #1 After Challengers visit Red Son for first time in Countdown #32, but before they visit Crime Society in that same issue
Countdown Presents: The Search For Ray Palmer – Red Rain #1 After Challengers visit Red Son for first time in Countdown #32, but before they visit Crime Society in that same issue
Countdown Presents: The Search For Ray Palmer – Gotham by Gaslight #1 After Challengers visit Red Son for first time in Countdown #32, but before they visit Crime Society in that same issue
Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer – Red Son #1 After Challengers visit Red Son for first time in Countdown #32, but before they visit Crime Society in that same issue
Countdown Presents: The Search For Ray Palmer – Superwoman / Batwoman #1 After Challengers visit Red Son for first time in Countdown #32, but before they visit Crime Society in that same issue
Countdown Presents: The Search For Ray Palmer – Crime Society #1 Leads into Countdown #31
Countdown #31 New Challengers (Crime Society); Superman Prime kidnaps Mxy; New Themyscira (Holly and Harley leave for New Themyscira)
Justice League of America #13 Wedding of Green Arrow and Black Canary (bachelor night); Salvation Run (Suicide Squad captures Luthor, Giganta, Shaggy Man, Poison Ivy, Joker, Cheetah, Doctor Light, Fatality, Killer Frost, Volcano Man)
Justice League of America #14
Justice League of America #15
Green Arrow/Black Canary Wedding Special #1 Wedding of Green Arrow and Black Canary (the Wedding); Salvation Run (Suicide Squad captures Black Spider, Clayface, Doctor Sivana, Effigy, Everyman, Girder, Hammer, Hyena, Jewelee, Jinx, Killer Croc, Mammoth, Metallo, Mister Freeze, Mister Terrible, Prankster, Psimon, Rag Doll, Shrapnel, Sickle, Tigress, Body Doubles, Brain, Elephant Man, Monsieur Mallah, Phobia, Warp); Barda is alive
Countdown #30 Wedding of Green Arrow and Black Canary (Green Arrow/Black Canary Wedding Special #1 crossover); Plastic Man is heroic before Dr. Fate: Countdown to Mystery #2; New Challengers (Earth-15); New Themyscira (Holly and Harley reach Themyscira)
Countdown Presents: Lord Havok and the Extremists #1 Leads to Countdown #29
Dr. Fate: Countdown to Mystery #2 Plastic Man is corrupted; Mary meets Eclipso; leads to Countdown #29
Dr. Fate: Countdown to Mystery #3
Countdown #29 Lord Havok meets New Challengers; Death of the New Gods (Knockout's death mentioned, Jimmy meets Newsboys Legion); New Themyscira (Holly and Harley reach Themsycira); Salvation Run (Suicide Squad find Piper, Trickster and Double Dare); Countdown to Adventure (Forerunner with Monarch); Dr. Fate: Countdown to Mystery (Mary with Eclipso)
Death of the New Gods #1 Continued from Countdown #29; (Black Racer, Big Barda, Doctor Bedlam, Magnar; Jimmy with Newsboy Legion; Lightray and Sleez mentioned)
Countdown #28 Death of the New Gods (Barda is dead); Salvation Run (Suicide Squad captures Double Dare), Forerunner is with Monarch
JSA: Classified #26 Countdown (DeSaad funds superhero gambling clubs); continues in Gotham Underground
JSA: Classified #27
Gotham Underground #1 Salvation Run (Suicide Squad captures Man-Bat, Two-Face, Mad Hatter, Hugo Strange before Countdown #27)
Countdown #27 New Themyscira (Holly and Harley on Themyscira); Salvation Run (Two-Face was captured); Countdown to Mystery (Mary and Eclipso are sent to Apokolips)
Gotham Underground #2 Continued from Gotham Underground #1; Salvation Run (Batman learns villains are being taken to a different planet); Question appears before Crime Bible: Five Lessons of Blood #4; Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge prelude (New Rogues debut)
Gotham Underground #3
Gotham Underground #4
Gotham Underground #5
Gotham Underground #6
Gotham Underground #7
Gotham Underground #8
Gotham Underground #9
Countdown to Final Crisis #26 New Challengers leave Lord Havok; Jimmy arrives on Apokolips; Karate Kid meets Firestorm; Kyle can't use lethal force against someone who's not Sinestro Corps, so takes place before Green Lantern #26-28
Countdown Presents: Lord Havok and the Extremists #2 After Countdown to Final Crisis #26
Countdown Presents: Lord Havok and the Extremists #3
Countdown Presents: Lord Havok and the Extremists #4
Countdown Presents: Lord Havok and the Extremists #5
Countdown to Final Crisis #25 Jimmy is captive in Apokolips; Dr. Fate: Countdown to Mystery (Mary meets Darkseid); DeSaad captures Firestorm; Superman Prime
Green Lantern #26-28 Alpha Lanterns; Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns (Red Lantern created); Green Lanterns become able to use lethal force against anyone
Green Lantern #26-29
Green Lantern #26-30
Batman and the Outsiders #3 Salvation Run (Man-Bat's kidnapping from Gotham Underground #1 mentioned)
Countdown to Final Crisis #24 Superman Prime; DeSaad is removed from Firestorm; Countdown to Mystery (Mary leaves Apokolips)
Countdown to Adventure #3 Starfire and Adam Strange story happens before Sinestro Corps War; Monarch's tournament begins, continuing in Countdown: Arena #1; Forerunner leaves Monarch
Countdown to Adventure #4
Countdown: Arena #1 Has to take place after the New Challengers visit the Earths in Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer, because the participants in Monarch's Tournament from those Earths are forever altered
Countdown to Final Crisis #23 Superman Prime; Dr. Fate: Countdown to Mystery (Mary and Eclipso in Space); Forerunner has left Monarch; Havok joined Monarch
Death of the New Gods #2 Earth heroes discover Barda's death; Deep Six's death mentioned; deaths of Antinoos, Apemenza, Atinai, Celestia, Fart, Fastbak, Jezebelle, Justeen, J.L. Minirats, Kid Kosmos, K'zandr, Lonar, Mother Herrae, Runway, Saraday, Sserpa, Zaro
Birds of Prey #112 Death of the New Gods #2 tie-in (Funeral of Big Barda)
Death of the New Gods #3 Mortella, Kanto, Takion; Scott arrives on Apokolips (continued in Countdown to Final Crisis #22)
Countdown to Final Crisis #22 Death of the New Gods (Scott in Apokolips); first appearance of Nix Uotan
Countdown to Final Crisis #21
Countdown: Arena #2 Leads to Countdown #20
Countdown to Final Crisis #20 Crossover with Countdown: Arena #2
Countdown: Arena #3
Countdown: Arena #4
Countdown to Final Crisis #19 Dr. Fate: Countdown to Mystery (crossover with Dr. Fate: Countdown to Mystery #4); Death of the New Gods (Bernadeth)
Countdown to Final Crisis #20
Countdown to Final Crisis #21
Dr. Fate: Countdown to Mystery #4 Mary fights Eclipso; Dove becomes corrupted by Eclipso
Countdown to Final Crisis #16 Countdown to Adventure #5 crossover; End of the Monarch/Monitors War; Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds prelude (Superman Prime thrown into timestream)
Countdown to Final Crisis #15
Countdown to Final Crisis #14
Countdown to Final Crisis #13
Countdown to Adventure #5 Monarch/Monitors War aftermath
Countdown Presents: Lord Havok and the Extremists #6 Monarch/Monitors War aftermath
Catwoman #72 Salvation Run prelude (Suicide Squad capture Catwoman; Salvation Run must happen before DeSaad leaves Earth in Countdown to Final Crisis #12)
Catwoman #73
Catwoman #74
Checkmate #18 Death of the New Gods (Knockout's death mentioned); Salvation Run prelude (Clayface, Cheetah, Girder, Hyena, Killer Croc, Mister Freeze, Psimon, Rag Doll, Scandal, Sickle, Tapeworm travel to Adon; Project Salvation Run will be exposed in 24 hours)
Checkmate #19
Checkmate #20
Checkmate #21
Salvation Run #1 Salvation Run; Bane and Deadshot are sent to Adon
Salvation Run #2
Catwoman #75 Salvation Run (Crossover with Salvation Run #2)
Catwoman #76
Catwoman #77
Justice Society of America #13 Death of the New Gods (Hercules mentions God-Killer); Salvation Run (Project Salvation Run is exposed to Daily Planet)
Justice League of America #17 Salvation Run (After exposure in Justice Society of America #13; Suicide Squad capture Houngan, Blind Faith; after Bane and Deadshot have been sent to Adon); Wedding of Green Arrow and Black Canary (day after wedding)
Justice League of America #18
Justice League of America #19
Salvation Run #3 Salvation Run
Salvation Run #4
Salvation Run #5
Catwoman #78 Salvation Run (leads into Salvation Run #6)
Salvation Run #6 Salvation Run
Salvation Run #7
Catwoman #79 Salvation Run epilogue (back on Earth)
Catwoman #80
Detective Comics #845 Salvation Run epilogue (back on Earth)
Green Arrow and Black Canary #1 Wedding of Green Arrow and Black Canary finale (after Justice League of America #19); New Themyscira (before Countdown to Final Crisis #12)
Green Arrow and Black Canary #2
Green Arrow and Black Canary #3
Green Arrow and Black Canary #4
Green Arrow and Black Canary #5
Green Arrow and Black Canary #6
Green Arrow and Black Canary #7
Green Arrow and Black Canary #8
Green Arrow and Black Canary #9
Green Arrow and Black Canary #10
Green Arrow and Black Canary #11
Green Arrow and Black Canary #12
Secret Six #1 Death of the New Gods (Knockout appears as a ghost)
Secret Six #2
Secret Six #3
Secret Six #4
Secret Six #5
Secret Six #6
Secret Six #7
Countdown to Final Crisis #12 New Themyscira (Furies revealed); Jimmy, Piper, Holly, Harley, New Challengers depart for Apokolips
Death of the New Gods #4 Forever People, Prime One, All-Widow, Mantis, Kalibak, leads into Countdown to Final Crisis #11
Death of the New Gods #5
Countdown to Final Crisis #11 Death of the New Gods (Mad Harriet)
Death of the New Gods #6 Death of the New Gods (Orion fakes death)
Countdown to Final Crisis #10 Death of the New Gods (Granny Goodness, DeSaad; Earthers leave Apokolips)
Countdown to Final Crisis #9
Countdown to Final Crisis #8
Death of the New Gods #7 Mister Miracle, Metron, Himon, Commander; God Killer revealed
Justice Society of America #14 Death of the New Gods (God-Killer revealed; before Countdown to Final Crisis #4)
Countdown to Final Crisis #7 The Great Disaster; Behind the scenes: Nix Uotan arrives too late to stop Monitor Solomon from killing Earth-51 because Monitor Dax Novu sabotaged him so that Uotan will be banished for negligence in watching his Earth and Novu will be able to transform into Mandrakk
Countdown to Final Crisis #6
Countdown to Final Crisis #5
Dr. Fate: Countdown to Mystery #5 The gap before the end: Dove is freed from Eclipso before Titans East Special #1
Dr. Fate: Countdown to Mystery #6
Dr. Fate: Countdown to Mystery #7
Dr. Fate: Countdown to Mystery #8
Countdown to Adventure #6 The gap before the end: Forerunner plot; Starfire and Adam Strange plot happens before Sinestro Corps War
Countdown to Adventure #7
Countdown to Adventure #8
Crime Bible: The Five Lessons of Blood #4 Gap before the end: Final Crisis: Revelations (Question becomes ruler of the Religion of Crime); Behind the scenes: Question quits her role almost immediately, but not before obtaining information regarding the Dark Side Club which she'll deliver to Dan Turpin in Final Crisis #1
Crime Bible: The Five Lessons of Blood #5
Captain Carrot and the Final Ark! #1 Continues in Final Crisis #7
Captain Carrot and the Final Ark! #2
Captain Carrot and the Final Ark! #3
Titans East Special #1 Gap before the end: Death of the New Gods (Power Boy); New Challengers appear before Countdown to Final Crisis #4; continues in Titans #1; Behind the scenes: Power Boy and the others Titans East are killed by the Sons of Etrigan, making Power Boy the only New God not killed by the Infinity Man
Titans #1 New Challengers (travel to Earth); continues in Countdown to Final Crisis #4
Batman #672 Batman R.I.P. Prelude
Batman #673
Batman #674
Batman #675
Death of the New Gods #8 Death of the New Gods concludes in Countdown to Final Crisis #2
Countdown to Final Crisis #4 New Challengers arrive to Earth; Death of the New Gods finale (Darkseid)
Countdown to Final Crisis #3
Countdown to Final Crisis #2
Countdown to Final Crisis #1
The Flash #238 Dark Side Club (could be placed during the Gap before the end, but narratively these are the New Gods "after death")
The Flash #239
The Flash #240
The Flash #241
The Flash #242
Infinity Inc. #8 Dark Side Club (could be placed during the Gap before the end, but narratively these are the New Gods "after death"); continues in Terror Titans #1
Infinity Inc. #9
Infinity Inc. #10
Infinity Inc. #11
Infinity Inc. #12
Teen Titans #56 Dark Side Club (could be placed during the Gap before the end, but narratively these are the New Gods "after death"); continues in Terror Titans #1
Teen Titans #57
Teen Titans #58
Teen Titans #59
Teen Titans #60
Birds of Prey #118 Dark Side Club (could be placed during the Gap before the end, but narratively these are the New Gods "after death"); Alpha Lanterns (Granny Goodness's human host killed, Kraken becomes new host)
Justice League of America #27 Final Crisis seen in vision of the future; placed as close to Justice League of America #21 as possible since this arc came out afterwards
Justice League of America #28
Justice League of America #29
Justice League of America #30
DC Universe #0 Final Crisis prologue; Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lantern Prologue; Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds Prologue; Batman R.I.P. Prologue; Behind the scenes: Reverse-Flash sends Barry Allen a subliminal pulse in the Speed Force to wake him up and make him return under the guise of needing to defeat Darkseid
Justice League of America #21 First half takes place before Countdown to Final Crisis #4 because Ray is still missing; second half leads into Final Crisis #1
Batman #676 Batman R.I.P.; continues in Batman #701
Batman #677
Batman #678
Batman #679
Batman #680
Batman #681
Batman #701 Batman R.I.P.: The Missing Chapter (leads into Final Crisis #1)
Final Crisis #1
Final Crisis: Requiem #1
Terror Titans #1 After Boss Dark Side's off-screen death in Final Crisis #1
Terror Titans #2
Terror Titans #3
Terror Titans #4
Terror Titans #5
Terror Titans #6
Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge #1
Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns #1 After Final Crisis #1, continues in Green Lantern #36
Green Lantern #36 Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lantern conclusion
Green Lantern #37
Green Lantern #38
Green Lantern #39
Green Lantern #40
Green Lantern #41
Green Lantern #42
Final Crisis #2
Nightwing #147 Nightwing after Batman's disappearance in Final Crisis #2
Nightwing #148
Nightwing #149
Nightwing #150
Batman and the Outsiders #11 Villains return from Salvation Run after Batman's disappearance in Final Crisis #2
Batman and the Outsiders #12
Batman and the Outsiders #13
Batman and the Outsiders #14
Final Crisis #3
DCU: Last Will and Testament #1
Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge #2
Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge #3
Final Crisis: Superman Beyond #1
Final Crisis: Superman Beyond #2
Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #1
Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #2
Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #3
Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #4
Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #5
Final Crisis: Secret Files #1
Final Crisis: Revelations #1
Final Crisis: Revelations #2
Final Crisis: Revelations #3
Final Crisis: Revelations #4
Final Crisis: Revelations #5
Final Crisis: Resist #1
Final Crisis: Submit #1
Final Crisis #4
Final Crisis #5
DC's I Know What You Did Last Crisis #1
Batman #682
Batman #683
Final Crisis #6
Final Crisis #7
Batman #702 Occurs at the same time as Final Crisis #7
Superman/Batman #76 First few hours after the Crisis ends
Red Robin #3 Red Robin recalls his experience during the Final Crisis
Final Crisis Aftermath: Run! #1 Human Flame is imprisoned for Martian Manhunter's murder
Final Crisis Aftermath: Run! #2
Final Crisis Aftermath: Run! #3
Final Crisis Aftermath: Run! #4
Final Crisis Aftermath: Run! #5
Final Crisis Aftermath: Run! #6
Final Crisis Aftermath: Escape #1 The Global Peace Agency introduced in Final Crisis #7 expands its operation, kidnapping spies from all over DC's organizations and testing their worth
Final Crisis Aftermath: Escape #2
Final Crisis Aftermath: Escape #3
Final Crisis Aftermath: Escape #4
Final Crisis Aftermath: Escape #5
Final Crisis Aftermath: Escape #6
Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance #1 The Super Young Team's adventures after the Crisis
Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance #2
Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance #3
Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance #4
Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance #5
Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance #6
Final Crisis Aftermath: Ink #1 Tattooed Man's adventures after the Crisis
Final Crisis Aftermath: Ink #2
Final Crisis Aftermath: Ink #3
Final Crisis Aftermath: Ink #4
Final Crisis Aftermath: Ink #5
Final Crisis Aftermath: Ink #6
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u/thigerlel — 8 days ago
▲ 53 r/storm+1 crossposts

Analysing the entirety of Ayodele's Storm saga

Chapter 1: Plot/timeline

EMM = Earth's Mightiest Mutant

RS = Rogue Storm

13 billion years ago, within the Omniverse, the One Above All creates a Multiversal Cluster for Himself. (EMM #5) His first creation is Oblivion, and within Oblivion, Eternity is born and steals space from him. (#5)

3 billion years ago, Oblivion runs out of space to host his twin sister Death, so, after a trial by combat, Oblivion gets his wish and gives her to Eternity. (#5)

One billion years ago, Eternity creates the Elder Gods to stop losing duels with Oblivion. The Goddess Gaea births the first Storm God, Hadad. Hadad, like all future Storm Gods, is engineered to battle serpents such as Oblivion. (#12) However, Hadad kills Eternity, Death, and the Living Tribunal, (#8) wanting to end creation after glimpsing he's nothing but a comic book character made to dance for entertainment. (#12) He is imprisoned by the One Above All (#8) inside Oblivion. (#11)

Today, Oblivion is lonely and wants Death back, but is out of space, so he proposes removing Eternity from the multiverse. The Living Tribunal refuses at first, but the One Above All is moved and allows the matter to be decided via trial by combat. (#5)

Jaden, an omega mutant, awakens her powers in Oklahoma, destroying a nuclear plant. Storm rescues her, but gains radiation poisoning. (#1) Storm hides Jaden in Madripoor with Bishop. (#10) Seven days later, Storm uses the five alien robots that powered the plant to create her Sanctuary, which hosts many hippos. She shares the truth about Oklahoma despite it creating mutant phobia, so Eternity deems her "worthy" to be his avatar in his duel against Oblivion. (#1) This union causes Storm to feel the universe's natural entropy in her body, so she develops depression. (EMM #3)

Storm seeks medical aid for her radiation poisoning. The doctor is unwilling to help after the way mutants defied Death in Krakoa, so Storm surrenders her mother's Ruby. The doctor directs her to Doctor Voodoo. (#2) Storm uses the magical system known as the shadow path, invented by her ancestors, to comandeer the abilities of Oblivion, (RS #3) who leads her to Voodoo. (#2) Voodoo heals Ororo by making a deal with the dark spirit Eegun that she won't use her powers for seven days. Ororo says she has a destination in Balou. (#3) Presumably, she learns of the Voodoo spell of Ile ("fall"), which directs the target to their doom, here. (#7) Later, she visits Logan (#3) and they conceive a child. (Hellfire Vigil)

Storm has dinner with Doctor Doom, who forces her powers back onto her so she can be his ambassador against her will. This breaks the pact with Eegun, who kills Ororo. She visits her parents in her afterlife, (#5) but her mom refuses to see her for giving away their Ruby. (EMM #3) Eternity resurrects Ororo as his host, with their union called the Eternal Storm. (#4) After defeating Eegun, escaping Doom, and being free from Eternity's possession, Storm weeps at the loss of her autonomy. (#5)

Storm uses one of the five robots powering her Sanctuary to allow Professor X to escape Earth. (X-Manhunt Omega) During a fight with the X-Men, Eternity takes over Storm again and feeds Eegun to Storm's ally, Maggot. (#6) Inspired by the abilities of Storm's friends, Eternity abducts the cosmic being Abraxas to use as a weapon and hides it in Storm's Sanctuary. (#9)

The world's smartest men attempt to re-create the super-soldier serum in Brazil. (#7) Offended that Eternity didn't pick them as avatars, four storm gods (Mamaragan, Sango, Susanoo and Chaac) decide to test Storm's worthiness. (#11) They cause samples of the serum to get lost in Brazil, drawing Storm in for an ambush. She escapes by using the Voodoo spell of Ile and by cutting her hair. (#7) Finding Storm unworthy, the Storm Gods side with Hadad, wanting to end the universe and create a new one tailored to their whims. (#11)

The FBI arrest Storm under the pretext that she helped Professor X. The FBI enjoy the comic book The Cosmic Within, (#8) which in actuality depicts a Variant of Storm's mother from an alternate Multiversal Cluster. (EMM #4) The FBI take Storm away from Sanctuary so they can attack it with demons from Limbo to steal Abraxas, but Storm's friends fend them off and free Storm. (#9)

Storm takes revenge on two of the Storm Gods, Sango and Chaac, imprisoning them in the pocket dimension Marisol-Abeni. (#10)

Eternity attempts to cheat by killing Oblivion with Abraxas a few days before the duel was set. To get back at him, Oblivion releases Hadad inside him, (#12) who seeks to destroy reality again. This causes a civil war among the Storm gods who have to choose to side with Hadad or against him. (#8) Hadad kills Oblivion himself. (#9) Eternity flees to the House of Ideas to seek help from the One Above All. (#11) He refuses, as He already knows how things will sort themselves out, but lets Eternity fear he'll die to teach him to be less self-centered and controlling. (#12) Eternity does not learn the lesson. (EMM #5)

The Storm Gods hold a meeting where Magadan inexplicably attacks Susanoo. This is interrupted by the arrival of Hadad and his minions, the Black Winters. (#11) The Black Winters kill most Storm Gods and the Cosmic Ghost Rider. Galactus and a Surtur-empowered Silver Surfer Soot become the last line of defense. (#7) They're rescued by Eternity's twin sister, Infinity, who wants to find her brother because he's at the House of Ideas. (#10) Storm visits Jaden in Madripoor, but the FBI follow her and they kill Maggot and wound Storm's ally, Manifold. Infinity tries to find her brother, but when Galactus and Silver Surfer Soot have no answers, she intrudes on Storm's confrontation with the FBI on Madripoor. (#10) A shaken Storm almost kills Infinity, but Jaden calms her down. The FBI siphons Galactus's blood and retreats. While watching Manifold in the hospital, his master Gateway touches Storm and awakens something in her. (#11) The FBI use Galactus's blood to turn Agent Gail Arakawa into Galacta. (EMM #2)

Hadad uses the Black Winters to divide his enemies, intercepting the Phoenix, the Never Queen, and Infinity. (#11) Doctor Vooodo tries to go to Storm and help against Hadad, but is recruited by Death to be her avatar, seeking to kill Eternity and the One Above All for allowing Oblivion's murder. (#12) Storm does receive help against Hadad from the Storm Gods Sugaar and Beta Ray Bill-who-is-Thor before being possessed by Eternity. The Abstract, supposedly humbled by his meeting with the One Above All, lets Storm take the reins, but when Storm defeats Hadad and intends to imprison him, Eternity fears the future consequences of this, steals Storm's autonomy and makes her kill Hadad. (#12)

On a separate multiversal cluster, an alternate version of N'Dare, Storm's mother, learns of the nature of the universe as several multiversal clusters that can be interacted with as fiction via TV or comic books. (EMM #1) She observes Death's advance on Storm's multiverse, and that they're on the Eighth Cosmos already, so she feels it's safer for her would-be-daughter to wait until the Ninth Cosmos safely outside the Multiverse. N'Dare begins trying to reach Storm. (EMM #4)

Shamed by the Storm War, Susanoo tries to have Storm kill him, but she imprisons him instead. Susanoo's defeated spirits gnaws at Storm, who wonders if there's a point to her never-ending, cyclical struggles, and fears she's lost her mother's honor. (EMM #1) Death begins waging the War of the Seven Spheres (aka War Above All), successfully slaughtering the realm of the African Gods because Storm imprisoned several of their Storm Gods. (EMM #3) Later, Death begins using a wraith of Doctor Strange as her main soldier, and this continues for 4,500 years. (EMM #2) In the present, tired of losing her loved ones, Storm visits Doctor Vooodo's brother and gets help from him to cast a spell to resurrect Maggot, inadvertently causing random people to die to balance the scales, (EMM #5) but they're removed in an unique way that sends them to different Multiversal Clusters where they appear to the Marvel Multiverse as fictional media, implying they can be brought back. (EMM #1) Later, Eegun's Akujin generals demand the liberation of their master, and slaughter a city to make their demands heard, (EMM #1) but their attempts to reach Earth are halted in Tartarus and Olympus. (EMM #5)

Storm is visited by N'Dare, who teleports her outside the Multiverse. (EMM #3) Storm rejects her would-be-mother's plan to wait for the Ninth Cosmos, and denies the impossibility of besting Death's army. N'Dare transports Storm to meet a grown-up version of her daughter Furaha to see if that'll change her mind. (EMM #4) N'Dare reads the outcome of this via the release of Storm: Earth's Mightiest Mutant #5, and sees Storm saves the day. Indeed, meeting her daughter reminds Storm of the real N'Dare's lessons about honor, represented by Furaha giving Storm their family ruby. Storm is transported by the Ruby to an African "ageless one", who casts Ile and sends Storm to meet Eternity. He tries to convince her to be his host once more to stop her many enemies, but Storm realizes Eternity orchestrated all her conflicts and rejects him. (EMM #5) Death's War Above All reaches Earth, and Storm intercepts Doctor Strange's Wraith. (EMM #2) Storm wins. (EMM #5)

Eventually, the Akujin manage to free Eegun, who destroys Storm's Sanctuary. She traps him within herself and uses her mecha engines to keep herself secluded for five years. (RS #3) On the fifth year, one Akujin tricks Storm's friends intro freing Storm and Eegun, causing their deaths. (RS #2) Storm spends five years strengthening herself while Eegun kills Doctor Voodoo and every other mystic. Storm is able to slay Eegun and she offers herself as sacrifice to revive at least one of her fallen friends. In doing so, she sets a new example for selfless behavior on Gods and avenges her Storm Engines and Doctor Voodoo. (RS #3)

Chapter 2: Analysis

The One Above All allows the plot to begin because he's moved by his creations's plights. (#5) He teaches that all creators fear the power of their creations, because they reflect their own flaws, but creations usually surpass the creator in strength because they also reflect the creator's strengths. (#12) For instance, Hadad lashes out at the reality of his fictional nature in a way that betrays Eternity's own feelings at being within a comic book. (#12) Doom forces Storm to be his servant against her will (#3), just as Eternity attempts to, reflecting his character. (#5) When Oblivion is killed, the One Above All cannot even mourn his firstborn because his grief could destroy all of reality. (#12) This mirrors Storm's struggles to contain her powers. (#11) Eternity is a manipulative abuser (EMM #5) who acts like a manipulative husband does (EMM #1). The One Above All lets his creations act freely because he can see the future (#12) and understands stories have happy endings in the end. Ororo's mother taught her that even if everyone else refuses to change, from school children to rulers in every scale, one should act honorably because there is no reason not to. (EMM #5)

Doom observes that the X-Men follow a pattern of rising to be better before falling even lower, but they're an inspiration for the way they keep trying again each time. This, he says, is a metaphor. (#3) The Gods who see this cycle in a larger scale feel that nothing has meaning because everything eventually gives in to death, and the only way to change the universe is to remake it. Storm herself feels the weight of these never ending trials. (EMM #1) Indeed, Storm compares a writer creating conflict for their characters to a manipulative abuser. (EMM #5) A manipulative, abusive boyfriend is shown caught in a spell and turned into a fictional character for his follies (EMM #1). These trials in fictional superheroes mirror the real-world trials felt, for instance, by human rights activists. Even though progress seems slow, they can fight for their families today while finding new ways to fight for tomorrow. (EMM #4)

u/thigerlel — 1 month ago
▲ 13 r/TheNewGodsDc+1 crossposts

The New Gods #2 annotations

See my annotations for issue #1 here.

THE FALLING SKY, PART 2

Page 1: The Machynoterum is the Nyctari's home base. It will get its origin in issue 3, but it's a creation of the Old Gods of the Second World, taken over by hordes corrupted by the Great Darkness.

We'll get Karok Ator's origin in issue #9. He thinks to himself in the second panel that he was named Karok Ator at birth, but he was actually given the name by the Nyctari after being conquered, meaning he considers that his birth. "Ator" might mean "crowned" from the Hebrew, or "natural perfume or essential oils, often associated with luxury and tradition" from the Arabic. Nyctari words most often seem to have Arabic meanings. Karok's hordes call him Deen, which in Arabic means "way of life." Deen still could work as the Hebrew for "law", though.

Pages 2-3: Upon hearing reports that the systems are littered with Source-born, we see a collage of characters, some of whom are currently dead. Metron, Lightray, Orion, Fastbak we saw last issue. Above Metron is Mantis, a bug from New Genesis who switched to Darkseid's side. Kirby created him in Forever People #2, and he'll fight Karok next issue.

To the right of Metron we see Desaad, Darkseid's torturer, who first appeared in Kirby's Forever People #2, like Mantis.

Above Desaad is Forager, first appearing in Kirby's New Gods #9. He's a New God who was raised by New Genesis's bugs, so he considers himself one of them. He died in 1989's Cosmic Odyssey, but came back in 2017's Bug! The Adventures of Forager.

Above Forager is Granny Goodness, another member of Darkseid's elite, first appearing in Kirby's Mister Miracle #2. She trains most of Darkseid's forces, including running Granny Goodness's Happiness Home, an "orphanage" which is actually a torture camp where she shapes future soldiers. She's also the chief of the Female Furies, an all-female elite strike force and honor guard.

Above Granny are three Female Furies: Lashina, Mad Harriet, and Stompa, all of whom first appeared in Kirby's Mister Miracle #6.

To the right of the Furies is Heggra, Darkseid's mom. She first appeared in Kirby's New Gods #7, where she suddenly stopped appearing after a time skip between pages. Her death wasn't revealed until 21 years later in Eclipso #10, where it was shown Desaad poisoned her on Darkseid's orders. More recently, Female Furies #1 revealed Granny was Heggra's true killer, and Desaad merely took the credit for it.

Below Heggra is Tigra, Darkseid's second wife and mother of Orion. She first appeared in Kirby's New Gods #7, and has been dead since Orion #3 in 2000.

To the right of Tigra are the Forever People, who first appeared in Kirby's Forever People #1. Long believed to be New Gods, they are actually humans picked from Earth, as revealed in J.M. DeMatteis's Forever People #6, which plays an important role in Ram V's series. Notably, in this panel we see all of them (Big Bear, Beautiful Dreamer, Vykin the Black and Mark Moonrider) but not their fifth member, Serifan, who will appear later in the issue on the wrong side of the tracks.

Below the Forever People is Steppenwolf, Darkseid's uncle. He first appeared in Kirby's New Gods #7, where he was also killed. He was resurrected in Kirby's sixth issue of his second volume of New Gods, until dying again in 2009's Terror Titans #2. Luckily, he came back after the Metaverse was rewritten following the Flashpoint in 2011, and was last seen in DC All In Special #1.

Below Steppenwolf and Fastbak is Lonar, who first appeared in Kirby's Forever People #5. A New Genesian, he ascended into his Godpowers as the God of Journeys and Quests and helped Green Lantern John Stewart ascend into Fifth Worldhood in the 2021 Green Lantern series.

Below Lonar and to the right of Orion are the Deep Six: Gole, Jaffar, Kurin, Shaligo, Slig and Trok. They first appeared in Kirby's New Gods #2 and are Darkseid's elite marine task force.

Finally, under the Deep Six is Avia, Izaya's first, late wife. She first appeared in Kirby's New Gods #7.

Page 4: A passage from Himon's Prometheus Codex muses about the nature of the Great Darkness. We know he's talking about it because it mentions the Source "shattered" it, matching the history of creation laid out in Justice League Incarnate #4, where the Darkness existed before the Light appeared. Himon, and Ram V, explain how the Darkness exists on a separate axis to Anti-Life; it's not against life or about death, but opposing existence, creation, ideahood. In Ram V's story, death for New Gods doesn't mean too much, as they return to the Source and might one day come back. To truly banish a New God is to erase them from creation, but such an act escapes the confines of "good" or "evil", and we will see that when it comes to pass in issue #12.

Page 5-6: Highfather has a prophetic dream of the coming of the Nyctari. The panels in the alphabet of the New Gods repeat what is said in plain English in the panels below. The first instance says, "New Genesis will crumble." The second says, "Apokolips will thunder to rhythms of war."

It's hard to say who's taunting Highfather in the narration. It uses the same font as the previous sequence, so these could be Karok's thoughts, or even Himon's. Alternatively, it could be Highfather's own conscience gnawing at him. There's mention that his "mistakes shall haunt" his dreams. While Highfather has commited many mistakes, it's unclear how the Nyctari invasion is his fault - the implication might be that, by ordering Kamal's assassination, he would take out the only thing that can stop the Nyctari. Perhaps it's about how he built his city around a gigantic Mother Box before they understood their nature--their nature being that Mother Boxes come from the Old God that was the Nyctari's enemy, so he's drawing them in. "Dvohras" might come from the sanskrit dvāra, meaning entrance, as well as dvārapāla, used for the statues used as temple guardians. That corresponds with the panel showing a guardian statue crumbling.

Pages 8-9: Orion is fighting random aliens, presumably looking for Kamal. Since he gave Scott exactly seven days to find Kamal and even referred to the child as a "he", Orion might just be making time and knows where he is already. Orion is seen riding a glowing bike; that's his Astro-Harness, which channels the Astro-Force, Orion's unique power described as "the fury of the source". The 1995 New Gods series introduced the concept of The Source of the Beast, a connection to the force as primal and unbridled instead of the refined and elegant Source of Highfather. That complete connection turns Orion into a misshapen monster, so presumably, the Astro-Harness helps keep that influx of constant power in check.

Page 11: Scott hopes that Oberon will know how to find Kamal. Oberon Kurtzberg is Scott's manager, used to be the assistant of Thaddeus Brown, the first Mister Miracle, and first appeared in Kirby's Mister Miracle #1.

Page 14: Kiran explains they found Kamal at a Krishnaraja temple. Krishnaraja was the 24th King of Mysore, the Kingdom that eventually became the Karnataka the characters are currently in. In the next issue we'll see that Kamal was originally left in a Chola temple, a dynasty that ended in the 13th century, implying that the Krishnaraja temple was built on top of Kamal's resting place.

Pages 15-16: We get our first look at Maxwell Lord, who first appeared in Justice League #1 (1987). He tells the story of his father, who died from a bullet to the head. His wording is ambigious, but in the original recounting from Justice League: Generation Lost #20 his father didn't actually kill himself, but was killed by his superiors and made to look like a suicide instead. Since then, Max has hated the powerful and the superhuman and sought to become more powerful himself to control them instead of the other way around.

Page 17: Max explains he used to be comatose until Metron awakened him. This happened four years earlier in Wonder Woman #768, when Max was attacked by his daughter. Although Metron healed Max by branding him with an Omega symbol in his forehead, Serifan immediately clocks it as a Metron move. Perhaps his going along with events knowing they're being played indicates he's not fully swayed by evil yet.

Page 18: Following Darkseid's power vacuum, Apokolips seems to have split in three factions: DeSaad, Granny and the Parademons, Mantis and his insects, and Kanto, although the situation could be read as Kanto being part of DeSaad's side but plotting to take over from the inside. Regarding the Parademons, DC All In Special #1 introduced a new breed of soldiers known as the Paradevils, but the concept seems to have been abandoned.

Page 19: Metron motivates DeSaad to go after Kamal, purposefully letting him believe the boy might be a reborn Darkseid. Just like his healing of Maxwell Lord, Metron is putting the boy in danger so that the heroes of both New Genesis and Earth will come together and provide an optimal environment for the child to grow up around.

Page 20: Karok says "Send in the first kien". "Kien" might come from cane, as in beating cane, or from canis, hounds, or the Vietnamese "strong."

u/thigerlel — 1 month ago

Interviewing Erik Stephenson

With the Chad Bowers interview recently posted, and with Bad-Rocking having just scored an interview with Joe Keatinge, it seems like getting in touch with previous authors is not a pipe dream for your average Extreme fan.

With that in mind, does anybody have ideas for how to get in contact with Erik Stephenson? I've looked around, but he has no social media, personal website or public email that I've been able to find. Getting him to share what his plans were for his 90s Youngblood run would close a hole in my heart.

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u/thigerlel — 2 months ago

1992 - Superpatriot

1996 - Fighting American

2004 - Free Agent

2024 - Captain Freedom

u/thigerlel — 3 months ago

Continued from Part 3...

The Modern Extreme

https://preview.redd.it/qq952seuhktg1.png?width=921&format=png&auto=webp&s=2fb87486302cb69e6727b08ce285ffe9f568926d

In the current, most recent iteration of the Extreme Universe, super-powered beings, called Nu-Genes, Re:Gexes or Human Enhanciles in the past, are now also called Meta Humans. Shaft's girlfriend, Shelly Price, is no longer the District Attorney as in Rob Liefeld's Revision, but a supermodel. Youngblood don't encounter Prophet's frozen body for the first time in a German laboratory, but during an Iraqui mission, where the Saddam Hussein-stand-in Hassan Kussein is trying to use Prophet as a Meta-Human Weapon of Mass Destruction. Cabbot Stone gets a new addition to his backstory, as it's introduced that he was mentored into Bloodstrike by Operative: Omega, also called Blackstrike.

Most major events occur like in past incarnations: The Keep arrive to harvest super-powered beings, but they're pushed out of Earth; Avengelyne births the half-Demon Magog, and ultimately kills him during the War of Armageddon, but this time the war doesn't last 100 years; the original Youngblood disband, and Waxey Doyle funds a new incarnation to relive his youth by proxy, but that team "collapses under its own weight," as Doyle almost goes broke funding it. To keep them out of debt, his son Big Brother sells his robot designs to the Government.

https://preview.redd.it/xibvaylwhktg1.png?width=400&format=png&auto=webp&s=82b561061fe6d1cd7f5cb52627a87cab00538598

When the Administration decides they need to deflect attention from the War on Kazakhstan, they have Director Douglas McGarry create a new Youngblood as a Reality TV show with the final goal of sending the team into the War as well. McGarry arranges for the heroes to fight a corporate-created supervillain team, Mayhem, Inc, composed of Giger (formerly Director of Cybernet), Blackrock and Warwolf (former underlings of Cybernet when it was run by Director Maddock), and Poppy (one-time member of a failed attempt by Sentinel to create his own Youngblood team after he was declared guilty of murder). Meanwhile, Scion, daughter of Spacehunter of the Allies, tries to warn Earth that her guardian has gone insane and is headed to Earth to destroy it, and Badrock grapples with his rock-skin coming apart.

https://preview.redd.it/0ikrgnjyhktg1.png?width=1000&format=png&auto=webp&s=92b7e875b1e3e7548ae320afffc6694fd4fa9a1c

During this tenure, Youngblood helps fight in the Invincible War. After Shaft learns the truth about the formation of their team, they agree to go underground and fight for causes that really matter. In their stead, the Government replaces them with Task (formerly of Bloodpool), Sundance (formerly of the New Men) and newcomers Jamm, Hatch, Sentinel V. 2.0. and Spyke. The new team faces Stormhead as their first villain, even as the underground team faces former Supreme foe the Televillain.

Following Barack Obama's inaguration as President, he reforms the team by bringing Big Brother back into the fold, as well as Kiesha Langston, the newly-revealed sister of Sentinel. Further, he appoints Chapel's newly-revealed son, Chapel, Jr., as his bodyguard in the Secret Service. He also reactivates the World War II Diehard, Calvin Raines, as the Free Agent.

Around this time, a new Bloodstrike lineup comes onto scene, formed by Cabbot Stone, his clone Bloodstrike: Assassin, Fourplay, Deadlock, Lynx of Jakarra, Kodiak and Byrd of the New Men, Lethal of Brigade, street-level vigilantes Knightmare and Cybrid, and Combat and Troll of Youngblood.

After Battlestone adopts Seahawk of his original Brigade team, he also adopts a young man, Takeo, who becomes a new Kayo. Alongside Lethal, who splits her time with Bloodstrike, they form a new Brigade with the sons of Seahawk, Seahawk II and Coldsnap II, the always-dependable Boone, and the son of the original Stasis, Stasis II.

https://preview.redd.it/gesbsid0iktg1.png?width=600&format=png&auto=webp&s=3518e0eaffb741c123556704a8988ec216dfa376

A new, teenage ShadowHawk applies to join Youngblood right as a global crisis erupts, and Youngblood are dispatched all over America to unite with Supreme, Bloodstrike: Assassin, Savage Dragon, Spawn, Witchblade and Cyberforce to fight many of their villains, as well as Youngblood foes Girth, Mayhem Inc., the original Chapel, Quantum, and Crypt, all led by the mysterious Omega Spawn. The crisis ends with the death of ShadowHawk, and the resurrection of his predecessor in the mantle, Paul Johnstone.

When the President is attacked in the White House by the mysterious group known as The Phoenix, he's rescued by time-travelers Jeriko and a Badrock from the future going by Madrock, as they take Obama out of the timestream.

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Avengelyne helps free Arcana Studio's Koni Waves from a demonic possession, but she receives a prophecy that she'll be stripped of her Angelic essence soon. This comes to pass when Satan (renamed the Red Dragon in this Revision)'s term in Hell comes to a close, so, having to choose a vessel in which to walk Earth in search of his new apprentice, he takes over Avengelyne's body, sending her mind to that of a stripper named Heaven. With the Angel Passover's help, Avengelyne frees her body and befriends Heaven, her friend Tegan, and they defeat the Red Dragon's apprentice, Torment. Alongside Avengelyne's best friend, Peter, the gang meet The Coven, tackle the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse, grapple with the arrival of vigilante serial killer Priest (now reimagined as part of the old Operation: Knightstrike), and reunite with Avengelyne's ally, Devlin Trask, now part of a new task force called Operation: Hellstrike, used to combat supernatural threats. Originally, Hellstrike was formed by Devlin and new characters Reverb, Vagabond, Poundcake and Outlaw, but now only Devlin remains.

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In Georgia, recent Army recruits Bowen and Case are visited by a Bowen from eighteen years in the future, who warns them that the military has been infiltrated by a supervillain called Imperius who will turn it into his personal army, the Infinite, and eventually take over the world. Together with Duel, CIA Agent Emily Herrod, and Infinite deserter Core, they form a small resistance group.

2012 Interruptus

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In 2012, publication shifted to showcase a parallel Extreme Earth for a period, an Earth with many key differences: Glory's people aren't Amazonians nor from the greek realm of Ultima Thule, but Thules, extradimensional beings created by gods called the Knights of Thule who give them their kingdom, Thule, and an afterlife where they go after death. The Thules, modeling themselves after their gods, give the Ten Commandments to Moses in ancient Egypt, are worshipped by the Vikings, and create the legends of angels and demons, even as they spread their kingdom throughout several realities they colonize.

Unlike in any other Revision, Glory arrives on Earth decades before World War II, and she befriends people like Ernest Hemingway and meets the love of her life, Emilie, until Emilie takes her own life because she can't stand the fact that she's aging and becoming old while Glory remains immortal. This pushes Glory to become a more brutal, single-minded warrior for the rest of her life. The conclusion of Glory's adventure with Avengelyne to stop Zeus is revealed for the first time, as it's clarified that it was all a plot from the Red Dragon, who whispered into Perseus' ears so that he would gain his father Zeus's favor. Like in Alan Moore's Revision, Glory fuses herself to a human, Gloria West, and they make the sharing of bodies work, until Glory abruptly has to break it off and tend to Thule, where her father, Lord Silverfall, has broken her truce with Lady Demeter's realm and they're at war. Unknown to Glory, the war is a pretense, as Silverfall and Demeter are deeply in love but know nothing short of a public end to the conflict will convince their peoples to join forces. However, the war is interrupted by the arrival of a Knight of Thule, who decimates both armies and forces them to hide on Earth. There, Gloria has been left aimless, and she searches for Glory for five years until she finds her in France, broken and barely alive after fighting the Knight. Glory and Gloria assemble a number of allies, including Thule native Henry and Glory's childhood cat, the gigantic Beleszava.

After a couple of years of resting, Thulians track down their village. Glory and her allies defeat what they think is a first wave of her father's soldiers, but is actually all that remained of Thule's both armies. Glory recruits her newly-revealed sister, Nanaja, conceived after Glory first left for Earth as a symbol to keep the truce between Silverfall and Demeter's peoples. Together, they find their parents and learn they're in love and have borne a third child, Riley, a new sibling for the girls.

Everyone prepares for a final struggle against the Knight, recruiting Avengelyne, Youngblood, Bloodpool, the New Men, Bloodstrike, Brigade, Supreme, Suprema, Bloodwulf, Kaboom, and newcomers Rein-East and Sharpsmooth, two aliens from the Scale World and allies of Prophet, and the anthropomorphic bear Badbear. Despite their numbers, the Knight of Thule is relentless, and as allies begin to die, Supreme attempts to take over as leader, prompting Glory to tear his arm off. In order to defeat the Knight, Glory is forced to succumb to a warrior's madness. One of her human allies, Riley Barnes, has a prophetic dream in which attempting to fight this unhinged Glory will lead to 500 years of destruction, so, instead of that, she willingly allows Glory to kill her, which snaps the Thulian out of her rage and prevents the catastrophic future. After a deal with her gods, Glory is allowed an early visit to the afterlife in exchange for the fact that she'll never go there again when she eventually dies. She encounters Riley, who assures Glory she did the right thing, and reunites with her original lover Emilie, allowing Glory to move on with her life.

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This reality's Youngblood face off against new villain Starcore on the moon, but when the team's damaged ship attempts to make it back to Earth, Badrock is forced to break the fall using his own body. After Badrock is placed on a life support capsule, Shaft quits the team for allowing the incident to happen. He's replaced by a new, blue Shaft, and Photon switches his sex to that of a woman, as Acurans swap sexes every seven years in this reality. Like in the main reality, Obama was snatched away, but in this one no one realizes it, because he was immediately replaced by a creature, possibly a demon or alien, who is posing as the real President. A strange ghost woman watches over Badrock's healing body. Someone keeps sending corpses of dead Vogues from the future to the original Shaft, now simply working as Jeff Terrell in the FBI. Youngblood defeat B'gart, a galactic gambler who stole Vegas after winning the entire city in a game of cards. Badrock heals himself, breaking his way out of his old shell after using it to regenerate as if in a cocoon.

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Avengelyne's adventures continue straight from where she left off in the prime reality, as her friend Devlin Trask calls in a new government organisation, the War Dogs, to hunt down Priest. The War Dogs include Vagabond, formerly of Operation: Hellstrike, L7, a clone of Lethal, Kobold, a beastling from the same race as Troll, Wildhalf, a human spliced with Jakarran DNA, and newcomers Big Wreck, Uppercut and Safe. They join a massive manhunt with the likes of Bloodpool, Professor Night, Kid Supreme, Knightmare, Bloodwulf, and newcomer Fight List. Priest ends up taking refuge among the Red Dragon's Seven Deadly Sins, who turn him into the general of Hell's army. The Deadly Sins begin to spread their corruption across Earth, affecting, for one, the New Men. In Hell, the Red Dragon announces he plans to retire and summons Avengelyne, her friends Peter and Heaven, and the angel Passover. They team up with Bloodwulf as they try to escape Hell and make sense of whatever the Red Dragon's retirement "celebration" is.

Eventually, Lord Chapel arranges for his own resurrection by mind-controlling his son, Chapel Jr., and Troll, his time as a cavernous Fifth Century kobold with Bram the Berserker reinterpreted as him inhabiting the actual caverns of Hell. Badrock calls all past Youngblood members, including Scion, the evil Psi-Fire, as well as Bloodpool, the Maximage, Colonel Bravo, Link and Roman. Maximage warns that Lord Chapel threatens the structure of the universe, as he's ripped asunder age-old barriers between planes of existence that give untold horrors access to Earth. Lord Chapel conquers the world, and this aggravates a pre-existent rift that causes the multiverse to unravel, and a realingment to begin to take shape.

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Although Lord Chapel's conquest presumably causes the equivalent of an abrupt Revision, destroying this timeline, we do have a recorded history of what would have happened centuries into the future. Earth was to become an Empire that spread among the stars; in the 2040s, Youngblood, now called Youngstar and featuring a new Chapel called Cheryl Stinson and new alien member QuoXuo, would have defended the new lunar colonies. Using clones of Prophet as soldiers, the Earth Empire would have enslaved countless worlds, roughly 10,000 years after the present time. Fighting across planets and centuries, Diehard would have split into countless units, such as Diehard-Green, Diehard of Ironsand, ThinkHard, Darkard, Diehard Balbus, Diehard Laelius, and Diehard Trebonius. Great Grey Grandfather Jonathan Prophet would have led a rebellion on the Scale World which would have quickly spread, and killed the Earth Empire.

Around this time, Supreme would have died defeating an entity called the Grullcore. In order to survive the toll on flesh of deep space, Lady Supreme would have abandoned her human form to become a starship, with her clan and passengers becoming the woman armada Babel-Horolegion, and Lady Supreme becoming known as Lady Probably, powered by the corpse of Supreme and other super beings. Suprema would abandon her human form as well, becoming thought and light and ruling over a planet. Badrock would have grown in size and, reaching a meditative state, become a planet, seeking to be "one with the universe." His many children - Brainrock, Moorrock, Kit, Georgina - would try to follow in his footsteps. In the age following, the uprooted slave-races would have made Earth their own, but ancient Prophet soldiers would awaken from cryosleep, reawaken what would be left of the Earth Empire and restart the warring.

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An unknown crystalline collective life-form, from a dimension outside of Earth-Normative space, would have entered reality and, across nine billion years, absorbed enough souls and minds to become a living nebula super-entity, driven by nothing but hunger. Sensing it as the true threat, the immortal Troll would psychically plead with both sides to forget their petty revenges, ultimately managing to awaken the gigantic Badrock, now tied to the fabric of the universe, and merge with him, destroying the crystal nucleus.

On Earth, the remnants of the Earth Empire would cross into the crystal's ur-space beyond reality using a shard left behind. They would have found Glory there, having transcended into the void between universes, where she would have been creating universes of her own. There, the crystals filled the void in between universes, and would eventually breach into Earth and destroy its spacetime. However, the Earth Empire's AI would have taken over Glory in order to make her destroy the rebel Prophets. Glory would have awakened her berserker state, destroying the crystals and crashing down to Earth-space. Almost immediately, Glory would have regained control, wiping away the remnants of the Earth Empire, and ending the war with the rebels.

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Nine hundred years later, the mysterious Nu D'khay would have entered the "Bright War", and Arcadia, now a "Living Moon", would have "gone to sleep". Out of Badrock's children, Brainrock would have been the first to awaken tied to the universe. Two thousand years later, Earth would have been disassembled by a treasure fleet.

President Diehard

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Back in the main branch of the Extreme Universe, Lord Chapel's conquest of the 2012 branch compromises reality, but only certain individuals, such as Cabbot, can sense it. Bloodstrike gains new members: Lady Bloodstrike, Alpha, Bella, and Bloodwulf. Alpha dates Tragedy Ann, formerly an enemy of the Re:Gex in the Alan Moore Revision, before they break up and she goes back to her villainous ways. Soon after, Bella, Deadlock and Shogun go rogue and quit the team to sell their abilities to the highest bidder in the private sector. Even later, Lady Bloodstrike goes rogue, too, hiring Tragedy Ann to ambush Alpha and cut off a genetic sample of his genitals. Lady Bloodstrike later kidnaps Twilight, kills her, and brings her back as an evil slave, using her to lure Professor Night into an ambush, intending to cut off his prodigious brain. With these body parts, and Supreme's invincible body, Lady Bloodstrike wants to create an army of the finest killing machines to take revenge against Project: Blood Again for forcing her into that life.

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Meanwhile, a hacktivist group called the Bloodstream leaks all of Youngblood's files, exposing their history of criminal activity, illicit sex scandals, assassinations, and government cover ups, forcing the government to disband the team. In the aftermath, Shaft refuses to stop working under his codename, so he is imprisoned, Cougar passes away, Photon and Combat marry each other and achieve a galactic union between their planets, Diehard campaigns for and is elected as President of the United States, with Vogue as his First Lady, and Badrock retires, his body decaying from a new disease dubbed McCall's Syndrome. He buys the Youngblood trademark, hoping he can use it to create a legacy and be remembered for something more than "Yabba dabba doom" before he dies. Meanwhile, an unknown group removes Suprema from the Alan Moore Revision and places her on the current one, where no one remembers her or her brother, and she starts using his codename, Supreme.

When Cybernet, posing as the legitimate Brynetec, launches Help!, an app that allows anyone to request a superhero's help, they secretly use it to profile young vigilantes, proceeding to kidnap the best ones and sell them to terrorists. A Help! superheroine, Petra Gomez, notices her friend and fellow hero Man-Up is missing, so she puts together a new Youngblood team to take down Cybernet, with Petra acting as a new Vogue, a former hacker from Bloodstream, Dolante Murray, Supreme, and Doc Rocket. They gain Badrock's blessing and Shaft's support in the field, but President Diehard attempts to stop their vigilantism, sending Hardhard Drones against them and even tearing Shaft's left arm off. Ultimately, the new Youngblood stops Cybernet and their helpers, the Church of Chapel, and they rescue Man-Up, but Badrock's body is destroyed for good and from its shell Thomas John McCall emerges in a 16-year-old body. The new kids continue rescuing former Help! users who were kidnapped, operating from Tokyo with the help of Task. They defeat Bloodstream when they attempt to take down Youngblood a second time, and help contain Smash Junior, the grandson of Smash, an old foe of Fighting American. (In this Revision, the equivalent of Fighting American is named Captain Freedom.)

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After some years, the Japanese team disbands, Diehard ends his Presidential term and the Government makes Youngblood lawful in America again, bringing the core roster back together, including a Badrock who regains his rock-hard shell, plus new units: the Blood Cel, with new members Brazen, Cargo, Raptyr, Energen, and Pulsar, and StarGuard, who represent Youngblood's interests outside of Earth, as the peace treaty with Katella falls apart following an Acuran attack on a Katellan Capital that violates their ceasefire. A resurrected Cougar works within this Division. The son of Chapel leaves the Secret Service to join Youngblood as a superhero. Alan Moore's Suprema vanishes, and in her place new Revisions of Suprema, Supreme and Kid Supreme appear, the three reimagined as cousins. This incarnation of Ethan Crane is pansexual, having dated the historical Persian King, Xerxes.

Somehow living to the present day, Xerxes finds out the Keep are coming to Earth to harvest Nu Genes again, and attempts to escape back to the past of the year 33 AD, teaming up with Shaft's time traveling dad, Colonel Bravo, and the mysterious Nu Gene Vandel. They plan to mass-displace inhabitants of Jerusalem from the past in order to take their places on an equivalent volume, but they're opposed by the combined forces of Youngblood, the Supreme family, and Roman and his cousin Coral.

The same day, the Keep arrive on Earth, promptly conquering it, crumbling nations and enslaving manking with the help of the New Men, who switch sides to obey their ancestral masters. The Keep's Shepherd murders the Nordic god Thor, and they hijack Diehard, using him to power their fleet and a host of evil Die-Hard bots. Shaft loses his right arm, but replaces it with a gold prosthetic. Brigade coordinates an underground resistance for two years with the help of a new Maximage, taking refuge on the prehistoric, tropical pocket dimension of Arcadia. The resistance is forced to team up with many of Youngblood's former enemies - Arcadia's tyrant, Tyrax, Loki, brother of Thor, Darkthornn of D'khay, and Lord Chapel.

Last Blood

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In the near future, Mean Supreme takes on the name Imperator and his corrupted Supremacy attempts to take over America, causing a civil war. The President authorizes emergency powers and seizes the government; after a 1000-days war, the United Nations is dissolved, replaced by something called "The Sovereign Accord", which outlines only five nations control the geopolitical structure with a world police. The Supremacy's rule establishes a ruling caste of superhumans dubbed the Heirborne, with one of them named the Magistrate, but there's a resistance underground, with Vandel among these freedom fighters.

Roman's Neuport becomes one of the last strongholds of heroes. Roman, his people, Brigade, Glory, and Duel, formerly of the resistance against the Infinite, fight against Imperator and the heroes they've corrupted - Greylore of the Berzerkers, Cabbot Stone, Bloodwulf, and new player Mighty Ion.

Bloodstone gains a new power to literally turn into stone, but he is imprisoned alongside Captain Freedom, the original Kayo, and Atlas, an old member of Brigade. Gaining a conscience, Cabbot hires master bowman Bo, who frees Bloodstone and the other prisoners before reuniting them with Cabbot, the rest of Bloodstrike, the Berzerkers, a redeemed Greylore, and Prophet. Prophet explains his daughter Joanna is with his team, and pleads for Bloodstone and his resistance to join them in changing tactics to prevent this future from happening altogether.

Meanwhile, Doom's IV searches for the Book of Judgment in Thule. An opposing force, also seeking the Book, frees the evil Prince Genocide of planet D'Vor, one of the first enemies of Brigade. The Star Command, led by one Major Vance Victor, chases after Genocide, who lands on Earth, where he's opposed by the heroes who originally defeated him decades ago: members of Brigade and D'Vor's freedom fighters, the Birds of Prey.

And that's the story thus far. Can't wait to see how it continues!

reddit.com
u/thigerlel — 3 months ago
▲ 11 r/badrock

Continued from Part 2...

Blue Rose Extreme

This revision, perhaps more than any other, requires an introduction. It first appeared in the issue of Supreme immediately following the end of Alan Moore's Revision, 2012's Erik Larsen's Supreme #65. It was part of a publishing initiative that relaunched a number of Extreme titles, including Glory, Bloodstrike, Youngblood and Prophet, with only Bloodstrike referencing the events of Supreme in any way. This was simple enough to follow until the publication of 2014's Warren Ellis' Supreme Blue Rose, which presumed to be a new direct sequel to Moore, with both Larsen and Ellis claiming to show what happened to the character of Alan Moore's Ethan Crane. As a reader, one must read both series as if they counted equally.

Things got really chaotic with the release of 2019's Brigade #1, which revealed the 2012 publishing initiative to have taken place in an alternate Earth. Because the narrative of Larsen's *Supreme (*and 2012's Bloodstrike by proxy of referencing Supreme) follows immediately from Alan Moore's Revision, they can't be part of the alternate bubble the 2012 titles were secluded off to.

What follows is an attempt at reconciling the narratives of Larsen and Ellis's Supremes as best as possible.

Backstory

The backstory of this new Revision combines elements of both Rob Liefeld and Alan Moore's Extremes; on one hand, you have Liefeld-exclusive characters appearing such as Khylund, Prince of the Jakkara tribe of cat-people in Zaire, or the street-level vigilante Knightmare, but you also have Moore-exclusive elements such as the World War II superhero team being named the Allied Supermen of America, and these separate elements are intermingled for the first time.

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Some elements are brand new: Cabbot Stone used the name Slingstone, fighting enemies such as the Gecko and the Lacerator in 1967 before joining a team called the Young Americans with Skipper, Suprema, Twilight and Kid Achilles. They fought enemies such as Doctor Moth, Quasimodo, and Dober-Man and his Dog Soldiers. Suprema is revealed to have had her first kiss from Twilight in a moment of experimentation.

Cabbot led Bloodstrike after his death and resurrection via Project: Born Again. Unlike in the Alan Moore Revision, his death did not come from the Hieropanth, but from taking a bullet meant for someone else in a selfless act during the year 1983.

Nu-Genes are no longer called Re:Gexes, and are sometimes called by a new term, "H.E.s" (Human Enhanciles).

The menace of Mean Supreme

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The violent trigger that caused this Revision creates a damaged reality, with time being an unstable bubble whose radiation, if mapped out, forms the shape of a blue rose. Due to the error, several individuals from the Alan Moore Revision still persist here, including Suprema, Supreme, his girlfriend Diana, his foe Televillain, and his Allied Supermen teammates Jack O'Lantern, Doc Rocket, and Storybook Smith. Supreme attempts to save civilians from the falling debris of the Supremacy, but after failing to save everyone, he lashes out in grief and locks his Ethan Crane persona away, secluding himself as he feels a white guy who doesn't know anything shouldn't be an interventionist god for the world. He hides with a Judith Jordan from an unidentified previous Revision.

The few survivors of the Supremacy from older Revisions - the original Supreme, 1950s Supreme, Squeaky the Supremouse, and 1970s Sister Supreme - have to wrestle with finding a place in a world that is not their own, especially after they're depowered, and even as they have to stop Rob Liefeld's Supreme, who goes on a violent rampage across the world. Dubbed "Mean Supreme", he fights famed hero and father of Invincible, Omni-Man, as well as Khromium, somehow the son of his old enemy Khrome from the Rob Liefeld Revision. After Mean Supreme brutally beats Suprema, her memories of the Alan Moore Revision fade away and she's replaced by her Blue Rose counterpart, so she abandons the cause of defeating Mean Supreme and seeks comfort from her trauma with her old Young American teammates.

At Bloodstrike, Cabbot is joined by a new Fourplay (bisexual woman Kennedy Marx), Deadlock (Samuel Christopher Hicks), Tag (a woman who believes herself to be Ventura Valentina Vlasco, but who has repressed memories of Youngblood members Shaft and Task, hinting at a buried real identity) and Shogun (Andre Xavier Lord). They fight enemies such as Cybernet, the Memphites, Quantum, The Quanta, followers of Quantum's ideology led by Synthesis; Hippo, the Black Bride, the Urban Knight, and a returned Doctor Moth, which prompts a reunion of the Young Americans. Meanwhile, the original Fourplay resurfaces after being believed dead and Project: Born Again's monopoly on the resurrection business is threatened by Leonard Noble, former Director of Bloodstrike.

The search for Ethan Crane

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Fresh from the Blue Rose Revision, Darius Dax is reimagined as a Black man and CEO of a megacorporation, while employing individuals such as Alan Moore's Televillain and the Blue Rose Twilight, her superhero background seemingly overwritten by that of a normal, Black civilian. Lady Supreme is reimagined as Doctor Chelsea Henry, a lesbian physics professor at a New York University, and Doctor Wells as her Black colleague. Professor Night exists as a mere fictional TV show character, Khrome is not an alien, but the name of an Omegapolis hotel, and the headquarters of the Allied Supermen of America become a bar named Always.

Four months after the Supremacy's fall, the Blue Rose Darius finds Alan Moore's Supreme and kills him using a Sci-Fi gun found in the ruins of the Supremacy, triggering a new Revision.

Avatar Press and Arcade Comics' Extreme

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In this era of sporadic publications, the Allied Supermen of America are renamed as the Liberty League and Fighting American is replaced by the Free Agent.

Operation: Knightstrike exists before Youngblood instead of simultaneously, and the leak of Knightstrike's black-op assassinations to the press forces the Pentagon to create Youngblood in an attempt to improve their public image and distract the public. Once again, Alexander Graves is human rather than a disguise of Lucifer, and he gets the name for the team from catching a song in the radio from the real-life band The Youngbloods. Riptide's granter of powers is renamed from Sea Witch to Witch of the Green. Several core moments from Rob Liefeld's Revision, such as Battlestone snapping during an Iraqi mission and killing a clone soldier, or Quantum's escape and defeat by both Youngblood and the New Men, are simplified, with both happening in the span of a few days in Youngblood's first year. The cloned troops are reimagined as regular humans deployed so that troops wouldn't feel inadequate in the "age of super-humans", and Quantum's attack is his debut, not a return. In this iteration, Johnny Panic sleeps with men, and Psi-Fire and Sentinel never turn to evil.

In the present time, Avengelyne teams up with Avatar Press's Pandora, Coral, Onyx and Shi, fights the group of vampires known as the Ravening, is transported through time to 92 AD's Rome, where she opposes Emperor Domitian and the demons Beset, Vulcan and Nero, and visits the world of sword and sorcery known as the Dragon Realm. The Coven's Spellcaster faces Avatar Press's Scythe and her evil sister, Eden. Meanwhile, Coven member Fantom fights her evil brother, Darkwolf, and her evil ex, Stalker.

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Eventually, super-teams quickly multiply, super-powered body parts became readily available for sale and crime is almost wiped out. Heroes descend into debauchery, losing themselves in party and riches, wondering how to find their ethical inspiration again. No longer teens, the former Youngblood members are surprised when the gravy train they had at 16 stops going on, and Badrock tries to keep a middling acting career afloat. Shaft is forced to work for a company run by Troll where he manages dozens of capes and pays them in exchange for getting to be credited as the savior of each heroic act in the news. They soon hear Alexander Graves is putting a new Youngblood team together. A legion of old members show up to the meeting, where Grave announces they'll be doing Multiversal missions in an initiative coordinated with the Youngblood teams of 999 parallel realities, but they've only got room for one new member, and the old heroes must kill each other until only one remains to prove their worth. In short succession, Knightsabre murders former Brigade member Seahawk, Badrock kills Photon, Twilight kills Troll, and Suprema kills Johnny Panic, Combat, and Twilight. While this is taking place, Mean Supreme takes over the Supremacy, turning the Supremes to evil and triggering a Revision.

Like in previous Revisions, this erases events that were fated to happen years in the future; in this case, the United States was going to begin annexing other countries as new States, slowly becoming an Empire, and this Empire's Youngblood was going to clash against their United Kingdom counterpart, The Crown. In this future, Diehard and Vogue had two children, Mikhail and Anastasia.

Even further into the future, Kaboom's Brigade team was going to be corrupted by The Zang, and the teen heroes would have renamed themselves Nitros, taken on villanous, new personas, and attempted to take over the world, clashing with a plethora of heroes from the Multiverse, among them Lady Supreme, the League of Infinity, the Cyberpunx, Sword and Stone, Joanna Prophet, and Jeriko.

To be continued...

reddit.com
u/thigerlel — 3 months ago
▲ 11 r/badrock

Continued from Part 1...

Alan Moore's Extreme Universe

The next version of the universe eschews its Christian roots; this time, the Big Bang is a mystical phenomenon called the Kaboom Cycle, and each cycle is protected by warriors named Kaboom who do battle with each other using gloves called The Pair which tap into the cycle's energy. These roles are passed from generation to generation for all eternity. Humanity was not created by God, but by alien beings known as The Company, who planted the seeds of humanity and their version of the Nu-Gene, this time called the Re:Gex. The Company created the races of demons, angels and even this iteration of God. The parting of the Red Sea, traditionally attributed to Moses, is actually caused by a time-traveling Supreme, who also sets a bush on fire using his heat vision, making Moses believe he found God. At Mount Sinai, it's The Company's aliens who give Moses his Ten Commandments.

Golden Age

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Amazonia, now called Ultima Thule, is the birthplace of Glory yet again, but her mother Lady Demeter is reimagined as the actual goddess Demeter from Greek myth, and her father's underworld as the actual Greek Underworld ruled by Hades. Hermes, God of Language, invents the Book of Judgment, a tome that contains all stories that were or will be, placing it in the world of matter so that, when life arises, it will have meaning.

As The Book makes the history of the world unfold, Troll is reimagined as an actual kobold from the Fifth Century who befriends a Conan the Barbarian-like figure named Bram the Berserker and eventually obtains the Book of Judgement. The Maximages are reimagined as Earth's sorcerer supremes, existing in every era; one of the first is Merlin, who wins the Book of Judgment in a game of cards and re-writes pages of it to manipulate his stooge Arthur into becoming King of Camelot.

This iteration of the Wild West is populated with cowboy superheroes, such as Kid Thunder, Brimstone Kid, and the Lonesome Rider.

The 20th Century sees the appearance of the Tarzan-like Zantar, White God of the Congo; in the 1920s, Prophet, cycling through time like his previous iteration, becomes known as the Man of Marble, a Doc Savage-like figure.

Ethan Crane is no longer the son of a Priest, instead born to two farmers in the rural town of Littlehaven. Doctor Wells, who originally tortured Ethan into becoming a super soldier, is now Littlehaven's local professor (even as he still comes from the future and created Prophet), and Ethan gains powers after he and his dog are exposed to the radiation of the mysterious Supremium meteorite. Kid Supreme is no longer the name of a sidekick, but the identity Ethan uses during his youth; Radar, for his part, helps Kid Supreme as the Super Hound. Ethan's arch-enemy is named Darius Dax instead of Zachariah Grizlock, and Kid Supreme makes super-powered friends in the League of Infinity, a team of teenage heroes from across all time periods. After becoming of age, Ethan moves to Omega City, renames himself Supreme, his adopted sister Sally becomes Suprema, and the two watch over the city in their floating Citadel Supreme. Supreme imprisons his foes in the Hell of Mirrors, actually the land of Wonderland from the Alice in Wonderland series of books.

During World War II, Supreme and Glory join the Allies, now renamed Allied Supermen of America, alongside others like Roman, Diehard, Mighty Man or the Batman-and-Robin pastiches Professor Night and Twilight, the Girl Marvel. Glory dates the Steve Trevor-like Trevor Tracy, Supreme, President Kennedy and fellow Goddess Hermione Sweetlove, unbound in her sexuality.

Sam Smith, mascot of the Roarin' Roughnecks, a pastiche of Sgt. Fury's Howling Commandos, ends up with The Book, and he rewrites it to make himself into the superhero Storybook Smith, as well as give himself a wife, impregnating her in a form of existential rape. They birth a girl named Leanna, future Riptide, member of Youngblood.

The idealistic Allied Supermen disband in New Year's Eve, 1949, after a vision shows them the 50s will be plagued by nuclear panic, rampant corruption, drug-abuse, racism, materialism, porn, unemployment and mental illnesses. During the 50s, Fighting American fills the void of crime-fighting against the Soviet menace.

Silver Age

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In the 60s, the Allied Supermen regroup to defeat the alien menace of Florax, deciding to stick together under the new name of the Allies with new members such as Spacehunter, a Martian Manhunter-like character.

In 1968, Darius Dax dies of cancer from Supremium exposure. Upon his death, a memoir he wrote in prison is sent to Supreme's love interest Judy Jordan, and micro-machines inside it erase her consciousness and install a copy of Darius'. Using Judy's body, the villain bids his time.

The next year, Supreme's foe Optilux ascends into a higher plane in what looks like an act of suicide. This, on top of Supreme's parents passing on, and "Judy" learning karate and becoming involved in women's rights, make Supreme decide to abandon Earth to find himself. Suprema takes over her brother's role protecting their city, but less than a year afterwards, Gorrl, the Living Galaxy, threatens the Milky Way unless it can find a suitable human companion. Suprema must marry it, and they disappear into a black hole. In 1970, the Allies break up. Optilux, seeking to turn all the material universe into light for religious purposes, kidnaps almost every active hero remaining to use as batteries, and human society looks mundane again. In Space, Supreme undergoes a psychedelic experience when he uses his will supreme to draw back the curtains of his nature as a comic book character, the shock of which leaves him amnesiac and drifting for years.

Dark Age

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Marcus Langston is a poor kid living among criminals. When his father steals the Book of Judgment, Marcus rewrites it to prevent dying from an overdose and he writes himself into becoming Sentinel, the first modern hero and founding member of Youngblood. In this Revision, the Diehard who is a member of Youngblood is not a new individual, but the same who fought during World War II. However, Sentinel doesn't stop his rewrites there, giving himself a wife in another act of existential rape and making Youngblood's missions nastier, shadowier and more violent, drawing forth a Dark Age.

Like in the previous Revision, Operation: Knightstrike is founded, as well as Bloodstrike, once again led by Cabbot Stone. For the first time, we see a cause of death that led to his resurrection via Project: Born Again: a monster called the Psychopanth. The New Men come to be.

Eventually, Supreme finds his way to Earth in 1996, when the Revision first happens, the previous history only now popping into existence. Supreme manages to defeat Dax in Judy's body; to his surprise, the battle ends with Dax falling backwards through time, becoming the Supremium meteorite that first gave him his powers. Supreme saves Judy's consciousness in a robotic replica of her original body, and he finds a new girlfriend in Diana Dane. When Cabbot Stone attempts to escape the Bloodstrike program, he and his girlfriend Yuki are killed, but Cabbot's resurrection is botched and he comes out as a slow, mangled thing resembling Frankenstein's monster. He's ordered to hunt down his original squad members, who have gone rogue after faking death via clones.

During a Youngblood barbecue at Sentinel's house, Riptide recognises The Book of Judgement that used to belong to her father and steals it. Sentinel kills her for it, unknowingly fanning a centuries-old family feud, as Sentinel's ancestor was Kid Thunder, an escaped slave, and Riptide's was Deliverance Drue, a puritan adventurer and a Solomon Kane pastiche who died cursing the Langston bloodline over ownership of The Book. In the ensuing trial, Knightsabre is revealed to be Alexander Graves' son, as Youngblood's Director is fully human in this continuity. Sentinel is found guilty, but Youngblood's funding is cut and they are ordered to disband due to the impact to their public image. With Sentinel's influence over, the world is able to move onto a new era of unlimited possibilities.

Modern Age

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Shaft is approached by Waxey Doyle, a retired 1940s super hero, who convinces him to let him fund a new incarnation of Youngblood in order to relive his youth by proxy. The new team is mostly teenagers, comprised of Doc Rocket, speedster and granddaughter of World War II's Doc Rocket; a grown-up Twilight; Johnny Panic, son of Darius Dax; a returned, unaged Suprema, and Waxey's adopted son and genius builder of giant robots, Big Brother.

Fighting American resurfaces in modern times, gaining a sidekick in S.P.I.C.E.. The Allies reform with Thor among their ranks. The New Men are folded into the Conquerors of the Uncanny, a Challengers of the Unknown-type team. Geof Sunrise and Kyra Knight become the latest Kabooms, trained by The Zang, a Kaboom wielder from the future. The Coven, a group of witches, devils, vampires and descendants of the Biblical Abel debut, dedicated to securing mystic artifacts that would change the world forever if fallen into the wrong hands. Avengelyne has everything she knows about God's origin proven to be wrong as she's captured by The Company's ruler, Sharpe, and she helps Re:Gex, an underground resistance against the Company's upcoming harvest. A new, short-lived Brigade debuts, consisting of former Youngblood Badrock, the Kabooms, former New Woman Dash, S.P.I.C.E., and the Kid Supreme of the previous Revision, Danny Fuller. Wanting to understand mortality, Glory begins sharing a body with human Gloria West, a schizophrenic waitress, but Glory's arch-enemy, Lilith, tricks Gloria's boyfriend into making her take anti-psychotics, sending Glory's possession into disarray.

Ultimately, the Darius Daxes of past Revisions realize all their old rivals, the Supremes, have been persisting in a limbo of their own, and launch an attack against their Supremacy. This catastrophic attack triggers a new Revision.

Like in previous Revisions, this erases events that were fated to happen years in the future; in this case, Prophet was going to awaken 25 years into the future, where he would be tasked to save the world with the help from his newly-revealed clone-daughter, Joanna Prophet from the year 3025.

To be continued!

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u/thigerlel — 3 months ago