SINESTRO versus GREEN LANTERN & GREEN ARROW

Force of Will (DC)
Where: Green Lantern: Rebirth #4 When: March 2005 Why: Geoff Johns How: Ethan Van Sciver

The Story So Far...
He was once called the greatest Green Lantern of all time, but Hal Jordan of Earth was disgraced when he succumbed to his darkest desires after the destruction of his home - Coast City. He became the villain Parallax, until a moment of self-sacrifice ended his tortured life.

Years later, Coast City has spontaneously returned. Now the human anchor to vengeful spirit The Spectre - Hal Jordan learns the truth about his years as Parallax. He was a vessel for another entity, one born of pure fear and trapped within the central power battery of the Green Lantern Corps. For years it had manifested as a yellow impurity in the Green Lantern's power, but the creature known as Parallax is ready to be reborn!

With the power of The Spectre within Parallax's grasp - Green Lantern Kyle Rayner and Green Arrow scramble to formulate a plan of attack. Little do they realize - Parallax isn't the only villain wielding yellow energy who has returned!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Sinestro 3 (Athlete)
Intelligence: Sinestro 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Sinestro 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Green Lantern 6 (Generator)
Agility: Green Arrow 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting: Green Arrow 5 (Martial Artist)
Energy: Green Lantern 7 (Cosmic Power)


A villain reborn! Heroes on the ropes! The Secret Wars on Infinite Earths are playing host to a two-on-one handicap match! We've seen the competitors facing off under similar conditions - but we've never seen them quite like this!

Thaal Sinestro is sinister by name, sinister by nature. Once considered the greatest of the intergalactic Green Lantern Corps, he was exposed by upstart recruit Hal Jordan for the over zealous fear monger he truly was! Overthrown on his home planet Korugar and banished from the Corps by its masters, The Guardians of the Universe, he was exiled to the Anti-Matter Universe of Qward!

Sinestro soon came into possession of a new yellow power ring crafted by the Weaponers of Qward. With this ring, Sinestro carried out his plans for revenge and tyranny! In time, the true source of its power would be revealed to be fear, around which an entire Sinestro Corps would form, using yellow rings to inspire terror in much the way Green Lanterns wield willpower!

In this instance, the Green Lantern that Sinestro has come to bedevil is Kyle Rayner! The Earthman of Sector 2814 was the last recruit after Hal Jordan was possessed by the fear entity Parallax and destroyed the entire Corps - Sinestro included! In ten years of publication, Rayner would earn his place by proving to be every bit as tenacious as the man he had replaced!

In his past adventures, we've seen Kyle Rayner contend with inter-dimensional threats from the Marvel Universe: Terrax [Green Lantern/Silver Surfer] and Silver Surfer [Marvel versus DC #3]. His results would vary, but years after this appearance during the Sinestro Corps War, he'd find some success in another two-on-one involving Sinestro [Green Lantern #25]! That time he had Hal Jordan at his back -- this time he has friend and mentor: Green Arrow!

The wealthy playboy turned self-styled vigilante is an expert marksman with a preference for a bow and arrow. His quiver is stocked with a cutting edge arsenal of trick arrows that keeps him in stead with the deadliest of enemies. An important contingency through his tenure as a longstanding member of the Justice League and best friend to Hal Jordan!

Green Arrow fought alongside Kyle Rayner during a JLA takedown by Deathstroke [Identity Crisis #3], but we've seen him have far better results against the likes of GL villain Black Hand [Green Lantern: Rebirth #1], super powerhouse Brick [Green Arrow #45], and highly trained fighter Red Hood [Green Arrow #71]. He also fought in the massive final battle of the Sinestro Corps War - which the good guys won [Green Lantern #25]!

Green Arrow is arguably out of his depth in the cosmic clutches of Sinestro, but he and Rayner have developed a good rapport in their short time together, and could easily develop a joint plan of attack. Unfortunately for them, Rayner's already been through the ringer by the time Sinestro comes a callin' to The JLA Watchtower. That does mean they have the home ground advantage, but with Sinestro at full strength - that might not mean much. Let's find out...

The Math: Sinestro Ranking: Green Arrow (#27)

What Went Down...
He stands in mid-air above the wounded Green Arrow and Green Lantern. Arms folded, face shifting from scowl to sneer. He burns with the aura of an intense, golden energy: fear - his to command! Yellow constructs shaped like arrows, buried in the body of the emerald archer. In spite of what recent history would have the cosmos believe - Sinestro is very much alive!

The once great Green Lantern has come to confront the last who took up the Guardian's burden: Kyle Rayner! He throws a wall of yellow spikes at the young ring slinger, who manages a shield just in time to slow them down!

The unrelenting impact of the spikes shatters all constructs - green and yellow - like fine shards of glass! Green Lantern is the first to regroup, forging a giant longsword to swing at the hovering villain. This too shatters!

Skilled in the art of making constructs with a power ring, Sinestro hones his own yellow longsword into a narrowing projection that pierces Kyle Rayner's hand!

He turns his hollow, burning gaze towards the Green Arrow. Hal Jordan's friend wore the color of will power by chance. Sinestro despises it! Ignoring the archer's quips, he forms a giant skeletal hand and brutally slams him against The Watchtower wall! He calls to Rayner, "Don't let him... get near Hal!"

The Green Lantern struggles to tend to his own wounds as the yellow impurity of Parallax infects his ring. He's ill prepared when Sinestro gathers his mastery over fear, channelling it into a swirling storm of yellow fire!

Striding through the halls of heroism, Sinestro defiles it all with his energy, his words, his very presence. He blasts Rayner through the Watchtower meeting room, through his own chair. He decries his very existence - an alley rate who was never meant to be a Green Lantern!

Kyle ignores the gnawing of the fear impurity and launches himself at Sinestro! His fist drives the villain backward into the surrounding electronic structure of the Watchtower! Sinestro throws his whole body back at the young hero - leaping from the wreckage!

The gambit was enough to distract Sinestro from Green Arrow, who's been crawling across the floor desperately trying to reach the Green Lantern battery. Now that he has Rayner pinned down in yellow bondage, he's free to intervene in the archer's plot - but he doesn't. Even if Green Arrow has Hal Jordan's ring, Sinestro is certain Oliver Queen's will is far too cynical to power it...

Jaded though his outlook may be, Oliver Queen's will is still green enough! With a single incredible push - he projects an emerald arrow right at the heart of disbelieving Sinestro!

The heroic trump card is enough to slow the unimpressed villain, who taunts his lack of will. The demolished Watchtower does the rest with a massive explosion!

Rayner regroups just in time to pull Green Arrow to safety! Exhausted from his attempt to use the ring, he's forced to lean on the Green Lantern as the pair hobble deeper into the space station. Running from the inevitable.

Another explosion throws the battered heroes to the ground! Emerging from the swirling yellow fire is Sinestro - triumphant! He lords over them and issues a decree: if they beg - he will end their lives quickly.

The Hammer...
Team Green gave it their all, but victory with extreme prejudice belongs to: Sinestro!

The heroes may have lost the fight, but damn did they get some awesome moments!

It's been a while since I last revisited Green Lantern: Rebirth. I'd forgotten some of the finer details, but one thing I was very much looking forward to featuring was that moment Green Arrow picks up the ring. Pretty darn cool!

It's easy to forget just how much of a game changer the first Rebirth really was. At this point, we've spent more than a decade enjoying Hal Jordan stories anew. So much so, it could be argued the mistakes that required a Rebirth have all since been repeated!

Green Lantern: Rebirth may be remembered for the elevator pitch of Hal Jordan's return to the living, but as we touched on during Guy Gardner Reborn #1, it's ultimate purpose was restoring an entire lost chapter of the sprawling DC Universe!

This was Sinestro's rebirth. Guy Gardner's rebirth. Parallax's rebirth. The entire Green Lantern Corps' rebirth! It was all brought back after far too long away!

Green Arrow's role at the fore of Rebirth made a lot of sense. He wasn't just a hard travelling best buddy to Hal Jordan -- he was also a still recent return from the grave thanks to a 2000 relaunch by Kevin Smith and Phil Hester. Another restoration for an icon fandom had reason to miss.

The genius of the early to mid 2000s wasn't just piecing together lost icons. The long sought return of Hal Jordan wasn't the end of Kyle Rayner. Green Arrow's warm welcome back wasn't a farewell to Connor Hawke. This was a time to both restore classic icons, enhance and embellish them with modern storytelling, and explore their relationship to a new generation of legacy heroes.

Of course, nobody had complete confidence that Kyle Rayner would make it out of Rebirth alive. I daresay many expected the opposite. Part of the fun of reading was a genuine sense of uncertainty! Even the much hyped return of the Silver Age Green Lantern had an air of mystery to it. Even as late as Green Lantern: Rebirth #4 - the heroes are still defending the corpse of Hal Jordan, while his spirit still wanders as the tenured host to The Spectre!

As Sinestro threatens the lives of the heroes at the end of today's feature fight, the ring flies off of Green Arrow's finger - returning to the body of Hal Jordan in a last page splash that announces his reanimation! The moment everyone was waiting for with only two issues to go! Kyle Rayner? Down - but not out!

The nurtured Rebirth under writer Geoff Johns would continue for the rest of the decade, giving DC Comics some of its most successful assaults on the sales charts. Unbelievably, the seeds of the Sinestro Corps War, the Lanterns of the spectrum, and the Blackest Night are all planted in these six issues!

With so much positive to learn from, it's such a shame DC Comics went down a path of destruction once again. In 2016, they attempt a line-wide "Rebirth" to restore some of the elements eliminated by the New 52 relaunch, while inserting some confounding new ones [see; Hero of the Week: Dr. Manhattan]. It remains to be seen if they can find their groove and get back to their best.

This brand new DC Comics Rebirth is the inspiration for revisiting some of the old ones throughout the month of July. In the past few weeks we've returned to Crisis on Infinite Earths, Legends and Guy Gardner Reborn. Next up we flash forward to another time an iconic hero was reborn for the modern age!

If you're still hungry for more stories, why not go diving through past features in the Secret Archive Index? There you'll find a complete reference list for all the past features on Secret Wars on Infinite Earths!

Get ahead of the Rebirth by checking out the collected edition of Green Lantern: Rebirth via Amazon purchase link provided! It's convenient, and helps out the site with no cost to you!

Winner: Sinestro
#97 (+206) Sinestro
#27 (--) Green Arrow
#103 (-11) Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner)

HERO OF THE WEEK: DOCTOR DOOM (Marvel)
Real Name: Victor Von Doom
First Appearance: Fantastic Four #5 (July, 1962)
Fight Club Ranking: #67

Featured Fights:
- vs THING: Fantastic Four #350 (Mar 1991)
- vs THING: Fantastic Four #361 (Feb 1992)
- vs SILVER SURFER: Silver Surfer #107 (Aug 1995)
- vs SUPER-SKRULL: Fantastic Four #6 (Apr 1997)
- vs THOR: Heroes Reborn: The Return #4 (Dec 1997)
- vs FANTASTIC FOUR: Ultimate Fantastic Four #12 (Dec 2005)
- vs BLACK PANTHER & STORM: Black Panther #19 (Oct 2006)
- vs IRON MAN: Mighty Avengers #10 (May 2008)

A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but what if another flower takes that name?

The Marvel Universe is about to have two heroes answering to the title of Iron Man - and neither of them is Tony Stark! It was revealed in a Comic Book Resources  exclusive: "Infamous Iron Man" -- a new series that will place Dr. Doom beneath the title on the cover, if not the armor itself. With new creation Riri Williams already announced to don the yellow and gold as a teenage girl also calling herself "Iron Man" - the law of diminishing returns seems to be an objective at Marvel Comics.

Editor Tom Brevoort took to Twitter to sideswipe critical response, calling the installation of a new identity as Iron Man "diversity in the line". He was right to cast aspersions about those immediately incensed by a change of race (or gender), but his examples of War Machine, Beta Ray Bill, or USAgent as hypocritical preference overlook the obvious.

Both of the new "Iron Man" characters are fighting an uphill battle against several decades of stand-in substitutes, as well as Marvel's present trends. We've already got a replacement Captain America, Thor, Hulk and more. There are two Spider-men swinging around, and a couple of derivatives. The sheer volume of time Marvel has dedicated to not featuring its iconic heroes has consumed a massive amount of the last six or so years. These inevitably temporary gimmicks are now stretching increasingly far - at the expense of years worth of mainstay hero stories, and genuine new additions.

It's the tired quality of a repeating concept that Brevoort overlooks. "Diversity" in the most precarious sense. Neither committed to genuinely creating new social icons for a new era, nor expanding the content and branding of "the line", as it was seemingly proposed.

Weak brand and creative management is arguably the most unattractive thing about Marvel right now. The more identities that assume an alias (and powers) - the less special they become.

In the case of Dr. Doom, I'm not entirely sure if he'll be going by "Iron Man" in the book. I'm certainly skeptical about the notion of Victor Von Doom -- a man who names everything after himself -- taking someone else's identity. That said, it revisits old themes of Doom's morality and sincerity, repackaged as another go 'round with Dan Slott's "Superior" Spider-man aka; body hopping Otto Octavius. That storyline took a transformation plot worth a few of days gone by issues, and stretched it out to a couple of years. The suspension of disbelief found in neophyte and gullible readers - no real substitute for playing with a concept, and getting back to business. After the farce of the last Fantastic Four movie -- legitimate Dr. Doom stories are more appealing than ever!

The business of brand management has been as grim as any of Marvel's character shuffling. Being an Avenger, X-Man, Inhuman, Phoenix, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man... None of it really seems to mean much, these days. You've got to think eventually the plan will be to restore order to the line. That's what made much of the 2000s compelling, with Marvel and particularly DC doing tremendous work to rebuild icons damaged by haphazard stunts the nineties. Of course, in the 2000s, comics were still running themselves, and the movies were seen as the inferior bastardized versions that they were. There's no safety in the assumption that that will ever be the case again, at least in the near future.

Maybe Marvel's new Secret Wars was the last hurrah of everything we knew, but I doubt it...

Dr. Doom won't be Iron Man forever. Tony Stark will probably be back some time. Same goes for Steve Rogers as Captain America, Thor as Thor, Peter Parker as Spider-man. The unique strength of comic books has long been their ability to tell decades of weekly or monthly serials with a single character. Mythologies and icons bigger than any of us. It makes good sense to keep adding to that, with increasingly interesting, different, diverse, socially relevant characters. I just hope that's still an option in a Marvel Universe were so much seems to mean so little.

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GUY GARDNER versus BLACK HAND

Book One Of Three (DC)
Where: Guy Gardner Reborn #1 When: July 1992
Why: Gerard Jones How: Joe Staton

The Story So Far...
As Green Lantern, Guy Gardner had the cosmos in the palm of his hand. He was an intergalactic space-cop and idol to millions - the Justice League of America's take no prisoners powerhouse. He had it all! Then he lost it...

Having gambled his power ring in a showdown with an Earthbound Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner is now a super-hero without super-powers! Not that that will stop him!

Back on the beat of New York City, Guy Gardner is going to clean up dirty streets - starting with Times Square! Possessing only his fists and a bad ass attitude, he begins a grass roots fight for justice starting with a smut peddling hero-hater he's handled before: Black Hand!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Guy Gardner 3 (Athlete)
Intelligence: Black Hand 5 (Professor)
Speed: Guy Gardner 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Guy Gardner 5 (Marathon)
Agility: Draw 2 (Average)
Fighting: Guy Gardner 4 (Trained)
Energy: Guy Gardner 7 (Cosmic Power)


Here on Secret Wars on Infinite Earths we use The Tale of the Tape to compare, contrast, and summarize the characters appearing in a featured fight. A popular shorthand has always been the tape stats [above], using an independent metric to highlight the strategic advantages of one character over the other(s).

These stats take from a standardized impression of the character - but sometimes circumstances have it that a character isn't fighting at peak condition. That fact plays a major role in today's featured face-off!

Guy Gardner has been better known for much of his career as one of several Green Lanterns designated to Sector 2814. Legend has it he was very nearly the first man of Earth to be chosen for the honor, but proximity to a fatal crash site of Green Lantern Abin Sur led daredevil test pilot Hal Jordan to receive the ring.

In later years, Guy Gardner became a reservist for the Green Lantern Corps, taking responsibility when Hal Jordan was forced away from his duties. In time, this led to full deployment as a Green Lantern, and even amendments by The Guardians to allow for multiple representatives from a single space sector. No such luck at this point in Guy's career, though!

Hal Jordan's return from a lengthy stay in space led to a showdown for patrolling rights on Earth. Refusing to give up his ring without a fight, Guy challenged Jordan to a powerless fist fight. The cocksure Gardner lost his fight, and we find him today shortly after he'd surrendered his ring.

Not having a power ring obviously lessens Gardner's offensive arsenal, but when it comes to fighting Black Hand -- it also diminishes the threat of the villain!

William Hand would eventually come to be known as the death obsessed scion of the Black Lantern. Long before that, he was merely a pathological hero-hater with a penchant for proverb, cliché, and crime! This profile led to inevitable conflict with local hero Green Lantern, who he battles with a device of special design that can drain a power ring of its energy - turning it against the wearer!

In a past feature we saw Black Hand wave his energy wand at Green Arrow and Speedy [Green Lantern: Rebirth #1]. They don't have super-powers to drain, but their archery gave them the edge against a feverish Hand. Will Guy Gardner be able to produce the same result with his fists? Let's find out...

The Math: Guy Gardner Ranking: Guy Gardner (#95)

What Went Down...
Like a human battering ram -- Guy Gardner ploughs through Black Hand and his gang of rubes! A right hook sends the ringleader flying, leaving his mooks to do the fighting in a descending five-on-one flurry of fists!

Black Hand commentates the action from the sidelines with an assault of applicable proverbs. Gardner takes his lumps from all sides and explodes out of the pack with an extension of muscle. He comes from Black Hand, but the villain uses his position to throw a leg at the stalking hero!

Gardner absorbs the kick to the gut and compliments his foe for scoring an impressive hit. It inspires the hero to strike back with another right hook, and an improvised adaptation of an old cliché: "A fist in the mouth..."

Black Hand's head snaps back from the blow, but is caught with another two-prong assault of mangled wordplay and a mangling left cross!

The big bad is on the ropes and his goons are getting antsy! It won't be long now before the Green Lantern tires of toying with his prey and scoops them up in a big green net of justice. Or will it?...

As the moustached mook tries to run, an observant goon points out a certain power ring absent from the Green Lantern's swinging, white gloved fists. With a twisted grin the meagre muscle rejoins the game, clutching a nearby desk lamp.

Unaware of the conspiracy around him, Gardner continues to sink his fists into Black Hand's waiting stomach. His nose bleeds and his body quivers, but still Hand manages a smile: "The... The... The light that burns twice as bright..."

This time quip serves a distraction gambit that pays off! A desk lamp rockets across the back of Guy Gardner's head - knocking him out cold!

The Hammer...
As commander of the nameless crooks who work for him, Black Hand claims a surprising victory over his arrogant nemesis!

With the former Green Lantern out cold in their midst, Hand and his boys toss him to the gutter, to resume their disreputable trade. It's a harsh lesson in adjustment for the now powerless hero, but as Hand would say, you've gotta break a few eggs to make an omelette! Or scramble some brains, as it were.

If you thought Hal Jordan was the first Green Lantern to be reborn - surprise! Guy Gardner was doing it a whole decade before it was cool! He even kicked off his mini-series with a fight with Black Hand -- something Hal Jordan did twelve and a half years later in Green Lantern: Rebirth #1!

The comparisons between GG Reborn and GL Rebirth taper off pretty quickly after that. There's whole a lot of ring slinging in both - naturally, and a face-off (or two) with Sinestro, but the intent of both stories is binary in difference.

When Hal Jordan was coming back in 2005, DC Comics were correcting course on a mid-nineties twist that turned their Silver Age icon into an arch-villain. The goal was to restore the character to his definitive identity as Green Lantern.

In 1992, Guy Gardner was heading in the opposite direction - ousted as Green Lantern, and in need of a new identity all his own. That identity would come at the end of Reborn through the acquisition of Sinestro's yellow power ring of Qward. A story I'm sure we'll look closer at some time in the future.

Ironically, the definitions of all of these details would be changed significantly by Green Lantern: Rebirth, and the extensive reign of Geoff Johns as writer and creative engineer for the entire Green Lantern mythos.

Rebirth restored Guy Gardner to the Green Lantern identity he was famous for as well, stripping him of Vuldarian powers he'd acquired a few years after Reborn as "Warrior". Guy's Qwardian ring returned to Sinestro, and eventually spawned an entire Yellow Lantern Corps. All the colors of the emotional spectrum would follow shortly thereafter, leading to Black Hand's rise as the first of the death wielding Black Lantern Corps.

I don't know that I'd called Guy Gardner Reborn ahead of its time, but it's certainly an interesting time capsule in the sprawling modern history of the characters involved. It taps into some interesting parody of trends of the time, while also indulging in them. Guy has misadventures as gun-covered vigilante, and doubles down on the bad taste violence in a tenuous team-up with another icon of parody gone straight: Lobo. If you were wondering how a smut peddling Black Hand factors into that - it's actually a callback to an issue of JLA!

If you're a Guy Gardner fan, rest assured there'll be plenty more opportunities to revisit his Rebirth, and other stories. In the mean time, we press on...

As you may know, the entire DC Universe is presently in the process of another line-wide "Rebirth", which is the theme running through all of our feature fights this July! Since we talked about it so much today, next week's feature fight will come from the pages of Green Lantern: Rebirth!

If you're reading this sometime in the future - you'll be able to find that fight and many more by scouring the Issue Index Archive! There you'll find even more superhero smackdown and comic book review!

Winner: Black Hand
#334 (+297) Black Hand
#105 (-10) Guy Gardner

HERO OF THE WEEK: IBIS (DC)
Real Name: Amentep
First Appearance: Whiz Comics #2 (February, 1940)
Fight Club Ranking: #DNR

Featured Fights:
- Yet To Be Featured on Secret Wars on Infinite Earths.

Usually Hero of the Week borrows from something topical going on in the world of superheroes, but this week I'm dipping exclusively into self-indulgence! There's nothing in comics or movies that can overwhelm the brimming positivity I feel for today's retro inspired spotlight: Ibis!

I was fairly sick in recent weeks. It was an ungodly hour, freezing cold, and the power had just gone out. Unable to sleep, and with few options at that hour, I decided on a whim to read a few issues of The Power of Shazam! by torchlight. It was exactly the unadulterated joy the doctor ordered!

There's a lot to like about the mid-nineties reboot of Captain Marvel and the Marvel mythos, but starting my reading deep into the first year, I was particularly taken with Ibis!

He's the type of character you used to see a lot. A well dressed man in a suit, with a turban, and mastery over the mystic arts! In the case of Ibis, his origins date back to Ancient Egypt -- another standard trope of fiction in the process of being forgotten. His limitless powers are owed to the Ibis Stick - a talisman granted to him by the god Thoth, when he was a Prince.

In the retelling of The Powers of Shazam!, Ibis never wanted much from life and grew bored, opting to sleep as though dead to awaken in more exciting times. A thousand years later he got his wish in the 1940s, joining the adventures of a Golden Age of heroes! The rest is history, but so was Ibis, since he decided to take another long nap. It's the intervention of Mary Marvel that brings him back for a fresh spin in heroics and boredom.

Disinterest is one of the traits that separates Ibis from his various equivalents. As the world bends to his effortless influence, he greets nearly every request and reaction with a sigh. A good man, but bemused. Unfathomably, after a couple of issues he's single-handedly restored key pieces of the Marvel mythos, defeated The Seven Deadly Sins of Man, and agreed to replace the Wizard Shazam at his post on The Rock of Eternity. A whirlwind of action crammed into forty-odd pages!

I can imagine an uninitiated reader seeing Ibis as a mistake. A character whose powers are so vague, all encompassing, and instantaneous - he shouldn't exist. There's certainly a frivolity to how he helps resolve problems and create fiction in a matter of panels. Placing him in the seat of The Rock of Eternity strikes me as the perfect way to have it both ways. He's more than an adequate replacement for The Wizard -- better than retiring Captain Marvel himself -- but remains out of the way.

In some ways, this encapsulates what leaves me disenfranchised about today's DC Comics. The New 52 dedicated so much energy to laying waste to was built up in the messy decades following the Crisis on Infinite Earths. It even repeated some of the same mistakes! In the end, the only plan was to leave DC Comics with less, until their new world accumulated its own baggage.

In the rush to appease new readers supposedly crippled with fear of history, the publisher forgot that you don't really need to worry about it. Sell the strength of the past, write modern issues in modern ways. Let sleeping dogs lie, ripe with potential to be awoken when the time suits. Have it all!

Perhaps Rebirth will bring back Ibis, or at least elements of his time. Perhaps not. Either way, I got a lot of enjoyment out of reading those issues by torchlight. I'm feeling much better now, too.

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FIRESTORM versus BRIMSTONE

Once Upon A Time...! (DC)
Where: Legends #1 When: November 1986
Why: John Ostrander & Len Wein How: John Byrne

The Story So Far...
No one could have believed the universe was saved from certain extinction less than a year ago. On Earth, life carries on as it always has - its people blissfully unaware that their reality has been remade to contain an entire multiverse of good and evil!

Across the gulf of space, the evil New Gods of Apokolips ponder the fortunes of a humanity protected by super-human defenders. While the dread lord Darkseid surveys his kingdom of misery, vile Desaad draws plans against the meddlesome heroes!

On the other side of the universe: The Hudson Nuclear Facility manned by STAR Labs is to be the birthing place of a new evil! The first strike in Darkseid's Operation: Humiliation is a techno-seed that will cleanse the world of heroes with the fire of Brimstone! Professor Martin Stein cannot believe the madness his designs have brought forth. Reaching out to Vandemeer University he summons a champion to confront the evil: Firestorm, The Nuclear Man!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Brimstone 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Martin Stein 5 (Professor)
Speed: Firestorm 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Brimstone 7 (Unstoppable)
Agility: Firestorm 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting: Draw 3 (Street Wise)
Energy: Draw 6 (Mass Destruction)


Another classic hero joins the ranks of the Secret Wars on Infinite Earths as we explore life after the biggest rebirth of the DC Universe!

Firestorm is the uncanny fusion between high school student Ronnie Raymond and Nobel Prize winning physicist: Professor Martin Stein! Combining to become an incredible "nuclear man", they are Raymond's piloting physical presence, supported by the internalized voice of brilliant scientist, Stein.

Stein's scientific knowledge is invaluable in guiding Ronnie Raymond to exploit Firestorm's powers over atomic and subatomic composition to their fullest. With the right knowhow Firestorm can manipulate and reassemble particles to transmute inorganic matter, pass through it, or effect destruction. On a base level he can also use his powers to: fly, enhance his own strength, project energy blasts, absorb and manipulate radiation, and generate heat.

Although this is the first time we'll see the original in action, we have witnessed the fury of Firestorm through another possessor of the Firestorm Matrix! Jason Rusch helped defend Earth during the Sinestro Corps War [Green Lantern #25], and more memorably faced down the Injustice League in a fight that included: thwarting Lex Luthor's attempt on Superman's life, and battling classic nemesis Killer Frost in a fight of fire and ice [Justice League of America #15].

Fighting with fire is something Brimstone knows all about! Birthed from a techno-seed planted at the heart of a nuclear generator: he is an avenging giant sent from the dominion of Darkseid to destroy Earth's greatest heroes!

Brimstone is the first shot fired in Operation: Humiliation -- a plot to rid the Earth of its so-called "false gods" by physically and philosophically undermining them! Brimstone is a burning false prophet whose words assault their legend, while he uses intense heat, flame, super strength, and gigantic size to incinerate and destroy any who would dare stand against him!

Given Brimstone's birth occurs directly in front of Professor Martin Stein, you can be sure Firestorm is the first hero on the scene! This means no existing intel on the threat, but some encouraging basic presumptions.

A nuclear borne, fire wielding threat is right in Firestorm's wheelhouse! Will he be the hero to snuff the Apokolips monster's flame? Let's find out!

What Went Down...
Feeling a familiar molecular twinge; university student Ronnie Raymond knows his lazy day is about to be rudely interrupted! Summoned from the warmth of a relaxing shower, he's thrown into the fire by a spectacular transformation that places him hovering above the New York skyline!

Exploding from the Hudson Nuclear Facility below him, Firestorm witnesses the flaming giant: Brimstone! Clued in by the disembodied voice of Professor Stein, the Nuclear Man springs into action -- firing nuclear energy to cut the burning behemoth down to size!

Firestorm is stunned to find his powers cannot manipulate the towering inferno - unable to effect change upon living organics! The young hero learns his lesson the hard way as Brimstone notices his flying presence and judges him harshly.

Before he can act - Firestorm finds five giant fingers closing around him!

The phenomenal speed of the giant's clutch catches Firestorm by surprise! Were it not for his quick thinking, he surely would've been incinerated by the beast's intense heat. Instead, he is protected by an encasement of fire retardant asbestos created last minute from the air surrounding him!

The defensive manoeuvre is cold comfort as Brimstone tosses the helpless hero into the building below!

Firestorm crawls from the wreckage with the bitter realization that Brimstone is out of his league! Lucky for him - he knows exactly which League to call!

The Hammer...
It's a harsh induction for a classic hero as Brimstone walks away the victor! Not necessarily the outcome you'd expect, but a result that makes a good deal of sense when you know the full context.

This was the first appearance of Brimstone, who was conceived as a villain for the six issue Legends mini-series.

Brimstone isn't the only menace to emerge over the course of the story, but he provides an immediate threat, taking down Firestorm in the first fight of the series -- a strong start to establish a new villain!

Legends deals indirectly with the consequences of Crisis on Infinite Earths, launching a sprawling adventure into the new status quo. It tells a story of heroes fighting disparate threats, while the minions of Darkseid plot a multi-pronged central attack. In the past, we've seen some of the other skirmishes from this first issue: Flash vs Deadshot, and Captain Marvel vs Macro-Man. Both are significant in their own ways, the latter for inducting "The Big Red Cheese" into the core DC Universe with confronting results.

The media blitz by "Gordon G. Godfrey" (aka; Glorious Godfrey) is one of the particularly memorable moments from "Operation: Humiliation". He works to turn public opinion aggressively against the very super-heroes protecting them. It's the modern weapon of politicized scaremongering harnessed in the arsenal of evil Darkseid. It's a concept of perverting human perception through fear that seems as topical as ever thirty years later.

The story also plays with themes of totalitarian registration seen concurrently in 1986's Watchmen, X-Men before that, and many stories since, albeit in simplistic terms that are only concerned with sympathy for the good guys.

Legends may not be the most significant follow-up to Crisis '85, but it has its place, creating the circumstances around which two modern teams assembled: A refreshed Justice League of America, and the covert operated Suicide Squad!

The Suicide Squad march on theatres this August, before the Justice League take centre stage in a 2017 follow-up to this year's controversial blockbuster: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. As in Legends; it seems the League will come together to fight the minions of Darkseid -- something they also did in the comics of 2011's hard New 52 reboot! It remains to be seen how deeply Suicide Squad will tie in with bigger DC movie plans.

DC Comics certainly have grand plans, currently in the process of yet another "Rebirth". This time they're working to repair some of the damage caused by the aggressive New 52 relaunch. We've already discussed the reintroduction of elements in recent entries into Hero of the Week [Dr. Manhattan, Flash]. Throughout the month of July we'll be coming at it from the other angle, venturing back through some of the other Rebirths DC has published in its recent, and once again convoluted past.

For a prequel to the July theme, you might like to flash back to last week's feature fight from Crisis on Infinite Earths #2! You can also find many more entries by browsing the alphabetical file of the Issue Index Archive, or by following links throughout this post, or the labels below.

We'll be revisiting Legends sometime in the future. You can get the full story by using the Amazon purchase link embedded for your convenience! Doing so helps keep the fights infinite with no additional cost!

Next week: Somebody gets Reborn!

Winner: Brimstone
#288 (new) Brimstone
#792 (new) Firestorm (Ronnie Raymond)
#490 (new) Professor Martin Stein [+1 assist]

HERO OF THE WEEK: CABLE (Marvel)
Real Name: Nathan Summers
First Appearance: New Mutants #87 (March, 1990)
Fight Club Ranking: #99

Featured Fights:
- vs AHAB: X-Men Annual #14 (1990)
- vs BARON ZEMO & MODOK: Captain America #6 (Apr 1997)
- vs THE AVENGERS: Civil War #3 (Sep 2006)

After a couple of big weeks in the world of comic books, the moving image is pulling focus back with news a Deadpool sequel is on track to start filming early next year! Comic Book Resources ended the week with a report via Collider, where X-Producer Simon Kinberg spoke positively about progress at the script level in an expansive interview.

Speculating how FOX will follow-up their surprise 2016 mega-hit has been a fun pastime, in part due to the overwhelming uncertainty of where they'll go next. After an all around disappointing outing with Bryan Singer's X-Men: Apocalypse last month, the sense that a change could do everyone good is strong. The question is - can FOX make that change without damaging their new cash cow?

Deadpool was every bit the breath of fresh air it purported to be, even if it was an imperfect exercise in a basic variation of the superhero formula. A sequel demands a fresh angle, if not outright improvement. The potential for connecting to the next phase of X-Men cinema - a temptation that should be handled with extreme caution.

All of this is to say: developing the next piece of the puzzle isn't such a bad idea!

A Ferris Bueller parody isn't exactly a contract, but by promising classic frenemy Cable at the end of the last movie, they've already created natural connective tissue between Deadpool and several rumored projects!

Cable, like Deadpool, made his first appearance in New Mutants: a comic series about a new class of young mutants, reportedly in pre-production for a feature film adaptation. In the comics, Cable introduces a military sensibility that eventually leads to a rebranding as X-Force. That name has been floated as a potential project for a couple of years now, and with modern influences, could be a way to refresh the X-Men formula with new and existing characters (and actors), including Deadpool.

Actors have been the biggest question when it comes to the cinematic debut of Cable. Who do you get to play the musclebound, cyborg soldier of the future? It seems every actor in Hollywood over fifty has an interest in the role!

Dolph Lundgren (The Punisher, Rocky IV) responded to the jokes with a promise he'd kick butt in the role. Stephen Lang (Avatar) has been lobbying for the part. Ron Perlman (Alien: Resurrection, Blade II, Hellboy) has thrown his credentials into the ring. Some are even pointing to wrestler/actor Kevin Nash as another option with a connection to movie versions of Punisher (he was The Russian).

Casting Cable will rest heavily on how the character's to be portrayed - not just in Deadpool 2 - but in any possible subsequent projects. Someone with gravitas to go with their muscle will help, but an understanding of the rat-a-tat-tat of the Deadpool motor-mouth they'll be scowling at, could help.

For a different approach, I'm gonna throw out a suggestion of someone already a friend to the X-Men movies: Eric Dane. As TV's Captain Tom Chandler in The Last Ship [pictured below], Dane bucked his Dr. McSteamy rep to play a military man making touch decisions as the world crumbles around him. It may not have had the weight of the apocalyptic future in Cable's past, but it got me seriously thinking about the potential for Dane to physically embody the role.

Just as Ryan Reynolds and a romantic sub-plot was pitched to bring a female demographic to the first Deadpool; Dane's past as a Grey's Anatomy heartthrob -- (shout out to the Charmed fans, as well) -- could help pitch the sequel to the mass audience who aren't ordinarily be the target, but showed up in droves to make Deadpool a $500 million dollar hit.

What ever happens - Deadpool himself was undoubtedly the thing that made the first movie work. That could be incredibly liberating as they attempt to catch lightning in a bottle once again and move the character, and their time with the X-Men license, forward.

<< Hero of the Week 07/04: Ibis       [Home]       Hero of the Week 06/20: Flash >>

BATMAN versus JOKER

Time and Time Again! (DC)
Where: Crisis on Infinite Earths #2 When: May 1985 Why: Marv Wolfman How: George Perez

The Story So Far...
As the barriers of time and space blur into insignificance and cosmic forces conspire to shape reality; a night in crime ridden Gotham City appears like any other...

A spate of murders have Batman on the hunt for a brazen killer. The last victim's appointment book: containing a vital clue that points to Plymouth Films and their next big production - Captain's Hill.

The movie title points to the resting place of one Miles Standish, whose last descendent holds the multi-million dollar rights to silent comedy films. As death lingers in the air, Batman races to stop The Joker from claiming his murderous prize -- unware he's a step closer to solving an even bigger mystery!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Batman 3 (Athlete)
Intelligence: Batman 5 (Professor)
Speed: Batman 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Draw 5 (Marathon)
Agility: Batman 4 (Gymnastic)
Fighting: Batman 5 (Martial Artist)
Energy: Batman 4 (Arsenal)


It's a story called "Time and Time Again" and it perfectly encapsulates the battle we have before us! There are over 820 ranked characters from ten years of Secret Wars on Infinite Earths -- and no two of them have met more frequently in featured fights than The Batman and The Joker!

The two most famous encounters come from The Dark Knight Returns #3 and Batman #614. Both stories show Batman overwhelmingly triumphant in the physical domain, but compromised by the Joker's unrelenting assault on the psychology and morals of The Dark Knight Detective. The hypothetical future of Dark Knight Returns frees the story to end in Joker's self-inflicted death, while the canon plot of Hush sees a Batman contemplating the finishing blow - but ultimately saved from his own anger by Commissioner Gordon.

More frivolous examples come from Detective Comics #781 and Justice League of America #15. The stakes of these stories are less dire, the themes less bold. These are the passing encounters of the superhero and super-villain: arch-nemeses destined to meet episodically ad infinitum. The Detective Comics fight is a personal favourite - a snow covered prison brawl between inmate Joker and his looming interrogator.

The JLA issue is more about The League fighting their Unjust counterparts. Batman appears as a monolithic shadow over an unconscious Joker. An off-panel reprisal of the same old story, flippantly punctuating the action with the benefit of a common understanding -- Joker is no match for Batman.

Of the seven fights featured in the past, Batman has won all seven.

In the animated series episode Christmas With The Joker, and in the Academy Award winning performance by Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, multimedia canonizes the mismatch on film.

In the cartoon, Batman's adventures have alluded to his life's training in the martial arts under the great masters of Japan. His past haunts him in battle with deadly ninja. In 2005's Batman Begins, the determination of a young Bruce Wayne again leads him far East, where he is indoctrinated into The League of Assassins, and again demonstrates intense learning of deadly martial arts.

The competitive match-up of the modern super-ninja and his clownish lightweight nemesis isn't especially compelling, but the dynamic of their seventy year arch-rivalry is evergreen! It's steeped in psychology and circumstance, and has been interpreted a great many ways over the decades.

Joker has relied on weapons, traps, musclebound henchmen, chemistry, anarchy, misdirection, and Batman's capacity for selflessness to elude capture, or eke out occasional victories. Batman is always triumphant in the end. Who would win? The real question is - what went down? Let's find out!

History: Batman (7-0-0)
The Math: Batman Ranking: Batman (#1)

What Went Down...
As cosmic dominoes topple beyond, a dark night falls over a solitary mansion on a secluded hill. The night air is cut by the sound of murder! The grinning victim's provocation: Estate inheritance of comedy rights possessed by millionaire silent film owner, Harold J. Standish III. The Joker is getting into the movie business!

The plot comes with a killer twist in the Third Act: A heroic entrance for a Dark Knight Detective whose dogged analysis of clues has led him to Joker's final victim! The Batman smashes through a nearby mansion window - launching himself at the unsuspecting Clown Prince of Crime!

A gloved fist collides with Joker's ghastly grin, sending him to the ground with a single right hand! Surprised, but not unprepared, Joker compliments The Batman for his unwavering abductive reasoning -- dousing him in adhesive sprayed from a novelty flower gag!

Covered cape to cowl in copious amounts of the restrictive goop; Batman drops to his knees and struggles to reach for solvent stored in his trusty utility belt!

As he does, the cackling clown twirls the .45 caliber pistol he already used to kill Mr. Standish, promising a remedy for Batman's stiffening joints. Things look dire for The Dark Knight -- but then something very unexpected happens!..

Without warning - The Flash appears!

Arm out stretched, the Scarlet Speedster cries out for help! His apocalyptic plea falls on deaf ears as The Joker, panicked, points his gun and begs for clemency.

The crime clown sees conspiracy between the Central City Speedster and his usual Gotham City sparring partner. Looking for a way out, he fires wildly with his pistol - and then goes for the super-adhesive. A batarang cuts him off!

Batman looms over The Joker as the chemical reaction between solvent and glue surrounds him in smoke. It seems the day is won, but again, the ghostly vision of The Flash speaks desperately of the world dying around him!

Distracted by the bizarre re-appearance of The Flash after he'd been missing for some time, The Batman allows Joker to make a mad dash for the exit! There are forces far greater than crime and law at play. A crisis on infinite earths!

The Hammer...
What started as just another battle between hero and villain ends as something very different! Batman had the upper hand, but The Joker got away. They both got a few good licks in. For the purposes of The Comic Book Fight Club we're calling this one a draw -- but the fight is only part of the story.

Playground lore always had it that Batman was remarkably uninvolved in the cosmic reorganizing of the Crisis on Infinite Earths. It's certainly a far cry from the stories that came in the years and decades that followed!

By the time of Final Crisis (2009), major plot points were revolving around a Batman whose tactical and fighting brilliance made him equal with gods! Ironically, it's through the similar vision of controversial Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, that many fans are waking to Batman's brush with the Crisis.

The foreshadowing of Flash's ultimate fate is a classic comic book moment!

Even read with foreknowledge of the series; the way the initial Flash vision intrudes upon a familiar status quo is sudden, unexpected, and drenched in apocalyptic foreboding! With any luck, you may have even been stunned by The Flash's sudden appearance while making your way through this very article.

The Flash's story is certainly one of the strongest in a maxi-series defined by its chaos. The future echo of unclear significance, but it sets a suitably ominous tone for the epic that unfolds. The true horror of Flash's ghostly appearance won't become certain for another six issues. Crisis on Infinite Earths #8 closes the loop, confirming every earlier dread with spectacular results!

In Dawn of Justice, Ben Affleck's Batman experiences "knightmare" visions of a dream world in ruin. Flash appears in the dream to warn of what seems to be an apocalyptic future influenced by Darkseid and an evil Superman. Its function of foreboding is effectively the same, but its position is the opposite -- a threat to a cinematic universe yet to be assembled. A much simpler preposition than the end of multiple universes created over several decades.

It was thanks to Crisis on Infinite Earths that we, the modern readers, had the luxury of a densely populated singular DC Universe. Acting as a deconstruction and construction of superhero existence, the series is undoubtedly significant, but it's also unruly and unfocused throughout. Sifting through dense pages of the end of the world can be a lot of fun, but may not make the best first impression for a movie-going audience conditioned to expect streamlined tales.

It helps that the "pre-Crisis" multiverse was essentially defined by the dispersal of characters across different worlds. This isn't a series inundated with repeating counterpart versions of one or two characters. The worlds may not be in sharp focus, but their peril is clear, told through the scrambling of dozens upon dozens of individually familiar heroes.

The scattershot nature of the action isn't especially favourable for a blogsite built on quantifying superhero exhibition bouts, but I'm excited about going beyond the concise for future installments. Superhero comics have always been at their best, I think, when they can be read and dissected in different ways.

Those future feature fights can be found by following the Crisis on Infinite Earths tag, or by scrolling alphabetically through the Issue Index Archive! There you'll find hundreds of other featured fights from Infinite Earths! This past Monday's Hero of the Week also concerned the legacy of Crisis on Infinite Earths and may be of interest!

If you've had enough of reading about the seminal maxi-series and finally want to take the plunge, you can do so by using the Amazon purchase link provided for your convenience [right]. Doing so helps keep the secret wars infinite. You can also help by sharing relevant links around the web!

All willing, The Comic Book Fight Club will continue in July with a special focus on what happened some of the other times DC Comics decided it was time for a rebirth. Some of the results may surprise!

Winner: Draw
#1 (--) Batman
#359 (--) Joker [+1 kill]
#14 (--) Flash (Barry Allen) [+1 Assist]

HERO OF THE WEEK: FLASH (DC)
Real Name: Wally West
First Appearance: Flash #110 (January, 1959)
Fight Club Ranking: #22

Featured Fights:
- vs DEADSHOT: Legends #1 (Nov 1986)
- vs QUICKSILVER: Marvel versus DC #2 (Mar 1996)
- vs VENOM: DC versus Marvel #4 (Apr 1996)
- vs SUPERMAN: Flash #209 (Jun 2004)
- vs PENGUIN, GIRDER & DOUBLE DOWN: Flash #210 (Jul 2004)
- vs DEATHSTROKE: Identity Crisis #3 (Oct 2004)
- vs ULTRAMARINE CORPS: JLA: Classified #3 (Mar 2005)
- vs LADY FLASH: Flash: Rebirth #2 (Jul 2009)

After more than half a decade in reboot oblivion: Wally West is making a comeback!

Modern readers may remember Wally West best as The Flash -- heir apparent to the speedster's mantle after the iconic sacrifice made by Barry Allen in Crisis on Infinite Earths #8!

For the twenty-three (or so) years that followed, Wally West served successfully as a pioneering force for the DC Universe's third generation heroes. He fulfilled a great majority of Barry Allen's roles, all the while establishing wrinkles unique to a hero who matured alongside the legends of the superhero Silver Age! He was welcomed into the ranks of the Justice League as Flash, but maintained ties with the young heroes of The Titans, with whom he'd served as Kid Flash.

It was all going remarkably well until 2009, when Barry Allen made a surprise return from death in Final Crisis and Flash: Rebirth (the first one)! From there, things became a red and gold blur - the result of two Scarlet Speedsters running at full speed. Something had to give, and with full support behind resurrecting the senior icon - Wally West began his unfortunate descent into obscurity. A short-lived, unconvincing costume change later, and it was bye-bye Wally for 2010's New 52 reboot.

Barry Allen isn't going anywhere, but one of Rebirth's most admirable qualities will be the restoration of the first and third generation heroes! This return, perhaps inevitably, means another shot at trying to resolve Wally West's costume woes -- made all the more complicated by the New 52 introduction of a new, racially divergent Wally West. Never the less, Newsarama have showed off the original's new red and silver digs drawn dramatically by artist Brett Booth [above].

Like much of Rebirth itself, the new costume is serviceable, but not entirely convincing. It borrows the open cowl of his Kid Flash days, with the abbreviated bolt logo, and silver lightning we've seen many times before, notably in the new design he received after Barry Allen's return. It certainly solves the problem of easy identification. Will it solve all the other problems? We shall see...

I'm pleased to have a classic character restored and decades of fiction back in play. The "big two", DC in particular, are in dire need of stability to go with their variety. Here's hoping the cycle of arbitrary upheaval and starting over ends here.

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