It All Started with the Big Bang! Part 13 (Issue #22)

This is a special issue to me because it's the first Big Bang I ever saw. I didn't read it, I just saw an ad for it in Previews magazine. I was sort of like 11 or 8 or somewhere around there at the time, I doubt I really got the 'joke', but it interested me nonetheless.

I don't recall if this is the debut of the Knight Watchman's archenemy, the Pink Flamingo, but it's a great showcase of the character. Essentially the Pink Flamingo is a combination of the Joker and the Penguin -- a gaunt, manic, and flamboyant man obsessed with birds. I'm also reminded of Jack A'Dandy, the dapper Joker-alike Professor Night fought in Alan Moore's Supreme. I know Grant Morrison created a Batman villain called the Flamingo, and being that he gave Ultiman a cameo in Final Crisis I almost think that's an intentional reference.

The story in earnest begins with the Pink Flamingo tinkering with a huge contraption, putting the finishing touches on his latest evil plan. He's created a machine that extracts the 'essence' of an animal, which a human can then drink to gain attributes of that animal. 

I'm almost getting tired of these little winks to the characters' inspirations. That's not even the last one in this story, either. Still, at least it's not "Jordan Stuart". Anyway, the Flamingo starts his airborne crimewave by stealing a priceless bird statue from a charity auction that Reid and Jerry Randall happen to be attending.

In a move that surprised me, the Randalls don't have their costumes on them or anything and simply resolve to get him next time. Alas, 'tis not to be, as he constantly evades capture with his new flying powers. And (no-prize attempt) I imagine cops aren't shooting at him for fear of what will happen to the precious stuff he's carrying when he drops it. 

They end up tracking down his hideout and lying in wait for him, drinking the essences of a stray cat and a sparrow to fight fire with fire and match the Flamingo's new animal powers.

The machine is destroyed in the battle, and an enraged Pink Flamingo commands his birds to attack. only they just fly away (except the ostrich and penguin I guess). Idiot, only alien hummingbird-man suits allow you to talk to and command birds. Knowing when he's beat, he tries to follow suit, only for sparrow-powered Kid Galahad to intercept him, knocking him out cold mid-air with a wing punch. 

Luckily, it appears the effects of animal essence simply wear off over time.

Probably one of my favorite Big Bang stories like ever. It's a perfect 50s Dick Sprang Batman story, not a hair out of place in recreating the comics of that era.

After the Knight Watchman story, there's one starring the Dimensioneer. Who's the Dimensioneer? He's got the power to warp space, which he uses to teleport and not much else. He's not really based on any one character, but his stories are very much in the style of 70s Marvel fare. I don't like him that much, gonna skip it. It's not really 'Big Bang' enough, by my estimate. And, no offense, but I'm like the only person who cares about that.

An editor's note mentions that the missing story from BB #18 is still missing, but they're offering up an alternate take on Dragon's run-in with the Badge (and BADGE) from #14 to compensate. The story follows the same beats, but uses a different art style and has different dialogue. Art's a little shakier and there's character stuff with BADGE's elites that I don't think had a place in the "Dragon lost in time" story, but it's still cool to see.

BADGE agents clearly receive advanced training for quips and consternation.

We learn a little more about Trooper, Bobby, and BADGE here; the director and his top field agent are really Rick and Roberta (hence "Bobby") Ryan, and they think Dragon may be a rogue government clone, or "Accidental".

And Rick/Trooper seems to have some connection to the Badge, whom we all know is a robot from the events of #14. I don't really get it. Anyway, as before Bobby goes after Dragon and gets creamed, only for backup to arrive in the form of the Badge himself.

That's the same dialogue from the Badge reveal panel in #14, with added Dragon thought bubbles. Seeing the same scene from a different angle is kind of giving me Metal Men flashbacks. And just like before the Time Being steals the Infinity Orb, causing Dragon and the Badge to give chase to the end of time. The... well, not the end, not even of this story, but that's where it stops. Eh, it was alright, not a winner like the Knight Watchman story

It all started with the Big Bang! Part 10 (Issue #14)

I'm skipping around a lot, but get real, this is the mind-bending conclusion to the Savage Dragon crossover.

As you may recall from last time, Dragon has a "time bomb" strapped to his chest, which can explode again and again, taking him to a different time with each kaboom. This is a convenient device for the superhero comic theme, as it allows him to explore the various eras of comics.

Dragon's lot is a sad one, though he knows an end does come when he meets Venus in the 1970s -- how long until then, however, no one can say. Also, it's so weird to see Kirby-style Ultiman like that. Kirby didn't draw Superman a lot, did he?

However, despite this, the story opens with Dragon popping back to Chicago on the very day he was taken by the Society of Evil Minds. But it's... different. Not his Chicago at all; he goes to the police station and nobody, not even his partner Alex Wilde, recognizes him.

That's when the cops call in the National Guardians to deal with this green monster. Who are the National Guardians?

Evidently this is the 90s of Earth-B specifically. Check out that gloveless Ultiman and the Earth-B Beacon. I don't get the third guy, though.I guess that makes sense, Binana had input on Grandfather Clock's time machine, no doubt it can travel between the worlds, too. Ultiman does recognize Dragon, but from a warp Dragon hasn't taken yet -- to the 1930s. Apparently they had some serious altercation, because Ultiman's been waiting nearly 60 years to pop Dragon in the mouth again.

There's more; Venus went back to the gods in '57, and Ultiman is married to Lori Lake, not that Arlene woman seen last issue. Or, she was, until she died in childbirth. I'd feel sorry for Dragon if he weren't being so slow on the uptake here, though I don't know how familiar he'd be with alternate universes in the first place.

A blow from Ultiman coincides with the bomb exploding again, sending him, funnily enough, to meet 1930s Ultiman. Dragon doesn't realize he's in a different time at first, probably because the art style changes are imperceptible to him. He doesn't get it until Ultiman mentions only getting his powers last week. Oh, and naturally there's the requisite Action Comics #1 homage, though in a somewhat novel move it's Dragon hefting the car.

Yeesh, you know, I never realized how uneven Dragon's proportions normally are until I saw this relatively realistic version.

Dragon thinks the time stream may have been corrupted after the last time he met Ultiman. Er, the last time he met Ultiman and they were friends, that is. Probably something to do with the temporal paradox caused by the two Grandfather Clocks in the Brave and the Bold segment that closed out the last issue. Speaking of, you may remember that Dragon got a hold of a remote to control the time jumps at the end of the issue, but being stuck in Earth-B means that hasn't been helpful. Anyway, their fight continues until Dragon's had his fill; he activates the time bomb without bothering to set it, landing in a US Army camp in 1952 Korea. 

An Army nurse talks to Dragon, and soon reveals herself to be Venus. Again, Earth-B Venus

That's a crappy excuse to get retired, at least old Ultiman got sick and lost his powers. Not gonna lie, this is the least eventful jump yet, and possibly ever. They just talk, really, I don't feel like I understand Venus' deal in the 50s any better.

She hears him out, and realizes what must have happened -- Binana can probably send Dragon back to his own world, and with the Earth-A/B time difference, he'll have the knowledge to do so in 1944, which is where (or when, I guess) he heads next. There (then), a trip to the hair salon for Molly Wilson proves to be a trap set by Dr. Binana, who apparently knows her civilian identity and, judging by the fact that he bound her arms, the "must touch ring to necklace" caveat of the Thunder Girl transformation. That's where Dragon comes in.

He frightens Binana into submission and frees Molly as insurance, watching her turn into Thunder Girl. I mentioned before that it's not much of a transformation, but Thunder Girl clearly looks taller and more muscular than Molly in this story, so whatever. Binana does some pretty funny sniveling to TG, so great is his fear of Dragon.

So they force Binana to let Dragon use his world hopping device, but Binana secretly pulls the plug halfway through sending Dragon home. This causes Dragon to be split between the worlds, literally. This ties into a Blitz story; The Silver Age Blitz and his sidekick Cyclone are headed to Earth-B for a wedding, that of Golden Age Blitz Mack Snelling and his pseudo-sidekick Speed Queen.

I should mention that Cyclone's relation to the Blitz isn't made very clear, but whatever. Anyway, as they vibrate their molecules to Earth-B's frequency, they get interference from Dragon blocking the way. 

The Earth-B Blitz sees his other half, and heads to Earth-A to investigate, but Dragon vanishes before he gets the chance to help. A mysterious force sets off the Time Bomb, sending him back to Earth-A in full... in 1965! There, he lands in the secret HQ of BADGE, based on SHIELD, which is one of a scant handful of Marvel-inspired things in Big Bang in general, including the original Badge and his Rookies. Wait, wasn't the Badge an Earth-B character? Eh, whatever.

BADGE, the Bureau for Advanced Defense and Global Espionage, is headed by the original Badge's former sidekicks Bobby and Trooper; Trooper was crippled in an accident at some point and is strictly an administrator, but Bobby is his top field agent. Oh, and they're brother and sister, in case you were wondering. 

Dragon's just trying to make sense of where he is, but can't get a moment's peace because all the BADGE agents think he's some spy or monster after the Infinity Orb. He even knocks out Bobby when she comes after him. It doesn't get much better when the Badge himself shows up. And he's throwing his shield now, having essentially gone full Captain America because the Guardian wasn't relevant in 1965.

Dragon has no clue what the Infinity Orb is, (though you and I know it's basically the Cosmic Cube), but some creep shrouded in darkness uses the confusion to steal it for himself. The bad guy flees into the time stream, and Dragon gives chase, hoping to be pulled by the other guy's wake. See, he recognizes the voice as that of the mysterious dude who saved him from the half-and-half Earth A/B thing a minute ago, and wants answers. The Badge, grabbing his leg, comes with him out of concern for the Infinity Orb.

Things don't go so great; Dragon thinks it's because he didn't set a destination, but he winds up in a crazy place with the chronometer reading all zeros. And then the time bomb and remote just turn to dust. Also, the Badge was killed on arrival, and turns out to have been a robot the whole time.

That's when he meets the end of time's inhabitants: the Time Being (Lord of Time) and Oblivia (the End of Everything). I don't think they're especially direct counterparts to anyone -- the Time Being is kind of a Kang/Watcher I guess. The Kirbyesque art in this segment is, really authentic looking, by the way, and I kind of wish Kirby Dragon happened more often.

The Time Being is the guy who took the Infinity Orb; by his reasoning, its power was never meant for mortal hands, in which it would only bring destruction and misery. He also fixed the Earth A/B mix-up, as it was causing a disturbance in the time stream. In any case, the Time Being offers to send Dragon back to his own time via his Time Tunnel, and invites him to look around his palace while he gets that ready. Dragon soon discovers something seriously weird while looking for a bathroom, though -- the Infinity Orb sapping power from several unconscious (or even dead) Ultimen. And on that note, we're done for now, with Part 3 coming in Big Bang #18. In color, no less!

It all started with the Big Bang! Part 5 (Issue #4)

Back with more Big Bang! This issue is gonna be a real treat for me, because this issue is based on an early JSA story that I happen to have actually read.

Just over half of those are familiar faces to readers of the Image series - Ultiman, Thunder Girl, and the Knight Watchman. The rest (and you can figure out who is who pretty easily) are Venus, the Blitz, and the Beacon, ersatz Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern respectively. 

Dr Stellar, obviously the Starman of the KoJ, wonders how the team came to be. The Knight Watchman lays the background by saying it all started when scientists from around the country were headed to the Great Minds Summit in Washington, D.C. The Blitz takes over from there, and it becomes clear that this issue's gimmick is just like the earliest JSA stories -- the heroes don't really work together, but they tell of adventures that are connected in some way. Naturally, each segment is handled by a different writer and artist. I wish they had a Hawkman guy, since Golden Age Hawkman had unusually detailed art for its time and I'd love to see something in that style.

Now, if I'm remembering correctly, the Flash section of the JSA story I'm thinking of involved fighting a shark, so one can only hope it's something half as cool as that. 

Anyway, the Blitz is secretly newsreel reporter Mack Snelling, who was on his way to cover the summit via the powerful train Super-Chief. A freak landslide nearly causes a horrible crash, but Snelling clears the way with time to spare as the Blitz, and soon discovers it was a Nazi assassination attempt on one of the train's passengers, engineer and auto magnate Hank Fort.

An interrogation reveals that this was part of a larger plot to sabotage the Great Minds Summit. The Blitz heads back to Super-Chief, no doubt reasoning that if there's more trouble at the conference he should be there (and that arriving before the train he was on previously would probably blow his identity).

The Beacon takes the story from there. He'd read about the Great Minds Summit in the paper back in NYC, when he was on a ferry to Ellis Island. Due to some trouble at the Statue of Liberty, they had to turn back, but naturally this looked like a job for the Beacon. It turns out there's some kind of DEATH RAY coming out of Lady Liberty's torch, blasting boats as they pass. The Beacon does rescue work to ensure that nobody dies, using the light from his miner's cap to escort people to life rafts and seal holes in hulls. 

Golden Age Green Lantern's powers were so nebulously defined as to be nearly limitless; I remember a story in Batman Black and White where he mentioned he quit the superhero game because he felt too powerful, and Gotham needed a hero, not a god. The Beacon is more like Space Ghost, in that his light fires different beams for different occasions -- a tractor beam, a heat ray, that sort of thing.

After turning the culprits in, the Beacon meets with the captain of the ship he saved, as well as a notable passenger, famous inventor Tom Ettleson. The Beacon escorts Ettleson's car to Washington to make sure he arrives safely, and that's when his part of the story ends and the Badge's begins.

This seems as good a time as any to mention that Rookies, Bobbie and Trooper, are nowhere to be seen -- implicitly this takes place before their first appearance. 

This is all introduced in a clumsy enough way that I'd have trouble describing it succinctly, so the gist: the Badge, staking out a local slum, meets a man who falls unconscious and is taken away in an ambulance by a rude German medic. Various clues reveal the man's identity as Dr. Reinstein, a famous scientist bound for the Great Minds Summit, and that he had been drugged. The Badge also guesses that the German medic is evidence of a Nazi plot. He commandeers a police bike, catches up to the ambulance, and jumps onto its roof, forcing the driver to crash.

Citizen's arrest? So he's not really cop? Well, I guess the Knight Watchman isn't a real knight, either. The Badge frees Reinstein from the ambulance, but one of the Nazis steals Reinstein's briefcase, which contains a top-secret formula. The Badge does something I didn't really expect him to for some reason -- he throws his shield, nailing the Nazi thief in the back. The Badge then accompanies Reinstein to the summit to guarantee his safety.

On to Thunder Girl, who, like the Blitz, was already on her way to the summit in her secret identity. In this case, it was with her friend Dr. Eureka and his colleague Dr. Igorski, in their latest invention -- an electric gyrocopter. They're accosted by a massive Nazi zeppelin, housing soldiers open fire on them. Molly turns into Thunder Girl, who covers the scientists' escape and takes care of the blimp with a simple hairpin.

See, that was simple. These are three page stories, that Badge one was so dense and overwritten (although that might have been intentional for all I know, that's kind of the point of Big Bang). Anyway, she naturally follows the copter to Washington.

The Knight Watchman's story begins as his wrist-mounted "Watch-Alert", which is evidently like the Bat-Signal crossed with Jimmy Olsen's signal watch, goes off just after he's finished his nightly patrol. Dr. Igor Eisner, a friend of the Knight Watchman's who appeared in a previous story, reports a break-in at his lab -- by Nazis, as you can no doubt imagine.

After reaching the scene in the Watchwagon, the Knight Watchman fights his way through Eisner's home to discover the scientist isn't there. It turns out he's being transported to Germany. Thinking quickly, the Knight Watchman rifles through Eisner's inventions to find a rocket pack he'd tested just a week ago

He soon finds them, rowing out to a U-Boat. Attacking the U-Boat with a grenade, the Knight Watchman scares its crew into submerging, leaving Eisner's captors literally high and dry. Eisner is rescued, and naturally the Knight Watchman accompanies him to the summit in case there's any more trouble.

Venus takes over. It turns out she's literally the goddess Venus. So, she was in Philadelphia (which might be her normal stomping grounds), escorting the French chemist Madame Furie to the summit. Furie looks little like the real Marie Curie, who was kind of emaciated; instead she looks like Wonder Woman's Golden Age pseudo-sidekick Etta Candy.

Venus and Furie are visiting the Liberty Bell at the moment, where they're surprised by a Nazi spy known as the Temptress. Via a weirdo gun, the Temptress gets the Liberty Bell to ring, a sound so cacophonous it knock Venus and Furie right out. When Venus comes to, she sees Furie being taken away by the Temptress (and she was also chained to the bell and stuff, but frees herself pretty easily). Incapable of catching the Temptress' car, she instead summons Pegasus.

It's pretty lucky that Furie wasn't injured in the crash, huh? That's the second time our heroes have endangered an innocent by deliberately provoking a car crash. Venus and Furie head to the summit atop Pegasus afterwards. Dr. Stellar, clearly regretting that he ever asked, tries to be like "Oh wow so it was the Great Minds Summit, that's great, see you later", but Venus passes the story on to Ultiman.

I was kind of bored of the formula, so it's good to see Ultiman changing it up -- he was already in Washington at the President's request, to serve as bodyguard to Winston Churchill. Churchill takes the time to see the Washington monument shortly before the summit is to begin. However, once he's inside, a steel door slides shut! Ultiman tears through it easily, but then the Washington Monument shoots out of the ground, because it's been turned into a rocket!

Ultiman finds the culprit, who is remote-controlling the rocket and plans to crash it into the White House to demoralize the Allied Forces. Naturally, Ultiman easily overcomes him and smashes his equipment, but this leaves the rocket unguided and it starts flying into space. Ultiman manages to save Churchill by grounding the monument in a really silly way.

Okay, so the conference is finally set to begin. All's well, right? As if. Nah; at the Smithsonian, the evil Henry Hyde reveals himself as the mastermind behind the whole thing. Born in the UK, Hyde was a brilliant scientist whose work was ignored due to his physical deformities. He moved to the USA, and was crushed when he wasn't invited to the Great Minds Summit. He swore he'd sabotage it and force the Allies to recognize his genius once and for all. And he still thinks he can, using his Anti-Matter Raygun to give life to the Smithsonian's exhibits!

Though "pandemonium results", Hyde's anger causes him to overload the gun, which blows up in his face, killing him. With the gun destroyed everything reverts to normal. One of the attending scientists realizes there's been some mistake -- he was mailed Hyde's invitation as well as his own, meaning Hyde did all this for nothing.

Despite this tragic development, the heroes are lauded by those in attendance, including Churchill, who compares them to the knights of his country's past. The seven of them band together as a force for good -- the Knights of Justice!

It all started with the Big Bang! Part 3 (Issue #2)

Moving on with another issue of Big Bang Comics, this one is as interesting as the previous one for a few reasons.

That's one right there -- this issue features a team-up between the Knight Watchman and a fake Silver Age version of Image character Shadowhawk. Meaning, yes, Batman is teaming up with Batman. Incidentally, calling those aliens red is pretty charitable, and the Knight Watchman overdid it a little with the purple here.

So, Dick Sprang style places this in the fake 50s, and the story is about being invaded by angry reds. In case that's too subtle for you, the story opens at a US Senate hearing chaired by a Senator MacNamara. MacNamara is trying to crack down on costumed superheroes, and challenges any of them to come forward and speak in their defense. This challenge is heard both by the Knight Watchman in his Watchtower and Shadowhawk in his Shadowlair. They both decide to head for Washington immediately to give their testimony. 

As it happens, Shadowhawk also has a kid sidekick, Squirrel, who is also his son. I'm not especially familiar with Shadowhaw, so I don't know if that's based on anything from the character's history, but I would be surprised if it were.

Anyway, the Pentagon receives a message from one of the red aliens on the cover and title page, and the Knight Watchman and Shadowhawk both run into a flying saucer on their way to Washington. I just want to point out Shadowhawk's "Shadowcar" real quick, it's amazing.

They start tailing the saucer, and it starts to dive sharply until it crashes into the ground. They get out to take a look and introduce each other; apparently they know of one another but have never met before. Cut to a secret lair in Washington, where the mysterious hooded Agent X receives radio communication from some guy about their saucer.

J. Edgar Hoover puts the Knight Watchman and Shadowhawk on the saucer crash investigation, and the Knight Watchman soon realizes it's not an alien craft, but the creation of his old friend Dr. Igor Eisner, who has been missing for some months. The Knight Watchman says the saucer was wired to crash if it got close to the Flying Shield, and notices a clue hidden in the wiring, as well, and this is a perfect example of Silver Age silliness if I ever saw one. 

As you can imagine, Agent X has Eisner captive, but not for long, as the Knight Watchman and Shadowhawk burst into the room and start clobbering Agent X's fake alien goons. Agent X is about to get away when Dr. Eisner stops him by throwing his t-square ruler at him. Agent X is unmasked, revealing Senator MacNamara, who was trying to discredit masked heroes so nobody would be able to stop him. The story closes out with a hearty handshake between our heroes, who also have crazy huge smiles on their faces.

Moving on to the real money story this issue, starring the Badge.

The Badge (and the Rookies, Bobbie and Trooper) are the second interesting thing in this issue -- virtually everything in Big Bang Comics is based on DC material, and while this is partially true of the Badge by way of the Guardian, he's mostly Captain America, especially owing to his costumed kid sidekicks and their marching band uniforms. Note the credited names: Jack Simmons and Joe Kingler, mangled versions of Joe Simon and Jack "the King" Kirby.

So the Public Enemy #1 the newsboy is barking about is Louie "Scarface" Provolone, who is for all intents and purposes Al Capone, duh. As he's taken to the electric chair, the Badge and the Rookies wait atop a city rooftop for the telltale toll of midnight (wherever this is it has a huge clocktower with bells). The Badge is happy to be rid of Scarface, but knows that someone else will take his place sooner or later. 

A bank security guard tells them that he fired the shots, at thieves -- but bullets didn't slow these guys down! They wore gowns and had skin white as snow. As the Rookies follow some footprints they found, the Badge responds to a cry for help from a nearby apartment, where a woman claims her recently dead husband robbed her. Her description of him matches that of the bank robbers. Knowing that at least one of the culprits is supposed to be dead, the Badge does the logical thing and goes to the morgue, which is incidentally where the footprints led.

"A week's allowance" -- are these his kids? Anyway, Dr. Cadaver, who is clearly the most trustworthy, honest man in the world, laughs at the idea of bodies getting up and walking... until Bobbie points out fresh mud on Lieber's, and the Badge notes a man whose toe tag says he drowned has clearly been shot.

I'm just going to hope Cadaver would have disposed of that evidence had he the chance; these guys did kind of come minutes after the zombies returned, and all. So Cadaver confesses that he reanimates corpses to commit crimes, and calls himself the city's new crime boss. He also pulls a gun on them and makes it clear that they aren't leaving alive if he has anything to say about it. Jeez, the Badge was talking about a new bad guy filling the void left by Scarface, but the first known zombie crime was mere moments after Scarface's death. 

Cadaver uses comic book science and a big console with levers to control the zombies; he commands them to kill the Badge and the Rookies as a demonstration. While Trooper and the Badge contend with the zombies, control over them is wrested from Cadaver by Bobbie. However, Cadaver has a surprise in store: a resurrected Louie "Scarface" Provolone! Would Cadaver really have his body not half an hour after his execution? 

Scarface feels no pain and his body is hard as rock now, so he's more dangerous than ever. When the Badge resorts to using Cadaver's dropped gun, the bullets sink into Scarface's flesh harmlessly. At first, he's still not sure what happened to him; he doesn't seem to remember his execution. Cadaver tells him everything, including the "Dr. Cadaver is the new crime boss" thing, as he hands Scarface a tommy gun. Naturally, Scarface objects to being anybody's lackey and shoots Cadaver full of lead first thing.

I just realized that this story has gangsters, zombies, kid sidekicks, and lots of gunshots -- if the Phantom Lady were here, every Comics Code no-no would be represented. The gun jams, giving Bobbie the time to flip the switch on Cadaver's console, "turning off" the zombie crime boss -- for good this time, ideally. Is it me or did Bobbie do all the real work throughout the caper? The Badge and Trooper better step it up next time. Glad to be done with this, the heroes leave after taking note of Cadaver's body. However, a police medical examiner later discovers that Cadaver has been dead for months. DUN DUN DUUUUN.