Crisis On Earth-Blog: The DC Challenge

Zatanna isn't taking you anywhere, my friend. Leave her alone.

Here's a story fragment instead...

1982

It has been an eventful few years in the life of Ronnie Raymond. Rather than perish in an explosion at a nuclear power plant, Raymond gained the ability to fuse with physicist Martian Stein into one super-powered being, dubbed Firestorm. Gifted with flight, intangibility, energy bolts, and the ability to transmute inorganic matter, Firestorm became a force for good in his native Pittsburgh, PA. Already, Firestorm had made fast friends and
fearsome foes. Firestorm had even joined the Justice League of America, in their satellite hovering 22,300 miles above the Earth. Yet, for all this, Ronnie Raymond was bored.

Assigned to monitor duty aboard the satellite, Firestorm twiddled his thumbs. In his mind, Raymond could at least hold conversations with Martin Stein. However, Ronnie was still having trouble keeping up with his membership requirements, like trying to remember his fellow super-heroes' secret identities, or the protocols established by the League for dealing with certain circumstances. Stein decided he would help Ronnie, creating crossword puzzles out of the relevant data in hopes the gimmick would strengthen Ronnie's memory, Ronnie, of course, just wondered why a benevolent god would saddle an academic ubderachiever like himself with a boring science teacher indefinitely, because mental tests were not his bag.

Suddenly, alarms began to go off. The Atom's lab in Ivy Town was being broken into, setting off an alert.



joined the Justice League of America

http://firestormfan.com/2009/10/07/blackest-night-post-game-speculation/
http://firestormfan.com/2009/01/23/52-and-the-dc-comics-encyclopedia-2007-2008/

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Firestorm Fan
Girls Gone Geek
I Am The Phantom Stranger
The Idol-Head of Diabolu
Justice League Detroit
...nurgh...
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random picture day
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Supergirl Comic Box Commentary
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when is evil cool?

Crisis On Earth-Blog: The DC Challenge

Hey, I'm Ralph Dibney, better known as the Elongated Man! I'm representing for Justice League Detroit: The Blog, your home on the web for all the goods on the Motor City's greatest super-heroes. I've got a nose for a good mystery, which brings me to today's shenanigans. A bunch of blogs are having a promotional event, like they did during Crisis On Earth-Blog. We couldn't legitimately take part in the Super Powers Collection's 25th Anniversary that followed, but we did track the trail of these Mexican forgeries:
Colección Super Amigos: Liga de la Justicia de Detroit
Colección Super Amigos: Vibe
Colección Super Amigos: Vixen
Colección Super Amigos: Zatanna & other Liga de la Justicia de Detroit Mini-Comics

Today, you and me are on an all new case. Below are a series of puzzles left by a nefarious mastermind. If you figure one out, you can follow the link to another blog with more riddles to work through. This'll draw you closer to one of two high quality, obscure pin-ups featuring characters spotlighted in this game. Wrong answers will send you to a "dunce" page, with suggestions on where to go next. You can also be a quitter and click the "I Don't Know" button, which will send you to a page that'll help you buy a clue.

So, you think you can keep up with the Stretchable Sleuth? Let's just see about that...

1)After the Detroit-era Justice League of America was disbanded due to an executive order by then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan, which super-hero banded together their replacements in the next incarnation of the team?

A) Superman
B) Aquaman
C) Martian Manhunter
D) Doctor Fate
E) I Don't Know

2) I loved my wife, my better half,
but duty called, to pave my path,
to dizzying heights, I did aspire
ever to fight, and face the fire,
adversity took, the place of honors,
for I mistook, just like Curt Connors

A) Aquaman
B) Adam Strange
C) Man-Bat
D) Martian Manhunter
E) I Don't Know

3) Solve the apposite anagram and select the character to which it refers:

Co. CPR Inc.-- We feel no mirth

A) Supergirl
B) Firestorm
C) Man-Bat
D) The Joker
E) I Don't Know

4) Batman was only briefly a member of Justice League Detroit before quitting without notice. Perhaps that's why the spirits of Elongated Man and his wife Sue Dibny returned the discourtesy by only working with Batman and the Outsiders for a brief period of time. Why, I doubt they even met the team's resident scientist, Dr. Francine Langstrom, better known as the wife of...

A) Aquaman
B) Adam Strange
C) Man-Bat
D) Martian Manhunter
E) I Don't Know

5) Solve and choose the closest answer:

r³ h² u² q³ b² k³ a³ e t⁵ p² k w⁸ s⁴
w⁶ h q² k³ a ^-2 t⁴ p r h u² r² w² p a^-2 b q e k^-2 b q e k^-2 s⁴

Minus

y² m⁴ b x⁶ a z³ n⁸
n⁷ b y² m³ x⁶ a^-2 z³

A) Aquaman
B) Hawkman
C) Superman
D) Man-Bat
E) I Don't Know

The Anti-DiDio League
The Continuity Blog
The Aquaman Shrine
The Atom: Tiny Titan
Being Carter Hall
Comics Make Me Happy
Crimson Lightning
Dispatches from the Arrow Cave
El Jacone's Comic Book Bunker
Firestorm Fan
Girls Gone Geek
I Am The Phantom Stranger
The Idol-Head of Diabolu
Justice League Detroit
...nurgh...
Once Upon a Geek
Pretty, Fizzy Paradise
random picture day
Reilly2040's Blog
Supergirl Comic Box Commentary
Toyriffic
when is evil cool?

Commander Steel in "Assault of the Lizard-Men"

In August of 1939, Henry "Hank" Heywood had volunteered to defend the just nations of the world against the Axis powers. Unbeknownst to him, while Heywood was off to slap Japs and jab Jerries, Heywood's country had been overtaken by a slithering, silent invasion. It ate at Hank's gut that he returned home to find that the U.S. had fallen under the influence of creatures not of this Earth. Masquerading as humans, these Lizard-Men had wormed their way into the heart of humanity. Anyone who knew, who tried to speak out, would spontaneously combust. Even our super-heroes, like the Justice Society of America, were not immune. Hank was though, somehow, perhaps because of his own lack of humanity. With the help of his mentor Doctor Giles, Hank had rebuilt himself as the cybernetic superman Commander Steel, but what good was it if he couldn't free his people without burning them up? Yeah, Hank knew, and maybe because they knew he knew, he was able to build Heywood Defense Industries after the war. Through government contracts, Heywood applied his technological genius to create advanced weaponry, which would eventually end up in the lizards' slimy clutches.

Here it was 1960, and the millionaire Heywood was in Africa, using the prospect of opening a plant as a cover for gathering a negro army. The Lizard-Men's influence was mostly in Western countries, so Heywood hoped that General Mustapha Maksai's forces could provide him with an unadulterated resource. However, to get to Maksai, Heywood had to set up a meeting with his pantywaist brother, the Reverend Ricard Jiwe. At a diplomatic function, Heywood met Jiwe and his very pregnant wife, all of whom were soon surrounded by armed Lizard-Men. Heywood had never seen them take on the appearance of colored men, but he guessed to a reptile one shade of flesh was as good as the next.

It was time to make a decision. Hank was bullet resistant, but not proofed, and there was Mr. and Mrs. Jiwe to think about. What to do?

Rush the Lizard-Men?
Shield Mrs. Jiwe?

Diabolu Frank Challenges All DC Bloggers!

Tonight I'll be taking a break from my regular blogging to offer up a proposal. If you or someone you know runs a blog featuring DC Comics inclusive comic book related content, I'd like to extend an invitation to take part in a relatively large scale crossover. Here's an edited version of my original pitch, first sent out to folks the week before Thanksgiving...

Greetings fellow blogger! I'm Frank Diabolu, and you may know me from such information superhighway personal interweb electronic log journals as Justice League Detroit: The Blog, ...nurgh..., and The Idol-Head of Diabolu, a blog for J'Onn J'Onzz, the Manhunter from Mars! What you may not know is that you and I are not the only isolated, obsessive-compulsive comic book enthusiasts with virtual presences, but merely part of a sort of virtual community of same. In fact, emulating actual comic book universes, some such bloggers occasionally have themed "events," a perfect opportunity to exploit the desire for still-mostly-introverted camaraderie and hijack the readership of others. I can speak to its virtues through my personal experiences with canny promotions enriching experiences like Crisis on Earth-Blog and Crisis On Earth-Blog: Super Powers Collection 25th Anniversary! It's splendtafulous!

Alright, enough with the Troy McClure shtick. I personally haven't run one of these shindigs before, but I thought it might be nice to give it a try. Most people receiving this email have already participated, and have at least one DC-centric blog. I'm going to try to expand our circle some more though, and there are enough characters to go around that non-specific blogs can "adopt" to join in. There will also be different MPAA-style "rated" blogs (my Idol-Head is pretty PG, while ...nurgh... is a soft "R,") but I can work to make sure all-ages blogs aren't contaminated with more mature links. My take is to be a bit more interactive by running a "scavenger hunt" where readers can bounce from blog to blog, advancing by answering trivia questions or solving other puzzles, usually related to the DC Comics character your blog would represent. Right answers would bring readers closer to "lush scans from two obscure pin-ups featuring every major character involved in this event," hosted by a site I don't run TBA. For the longest time, I considered giving away stuff, like a complete set of the DC Challenge mini-series, but realized too much trouble and personal information trafficking would be involved. Instead, we'll keep it neat, fun, and coast on the high end of our average daily hit counts.

I'll be happy to provide all the necessary art, text and html, making this a free "day off" for the daily blogger. Folks can contribute as much as they'd like, though, preferably at least the questions and correct answers, and as difficult as you want.

I ask that everyone try to post around the same time, but there should be enough participants that the only problem would be if the "winner" site failed to publish. As I said, everyone will receive a 400 pixel wide detail from the piece, and everyone would be free to post the full image (which I'll host on Photobucket) on their blog after observing a respectable waiting period for the sake of the "winning" blog.

Anyway, thanks for reading this far, and I hope you consider joining in.

I didn't appreciate how complex my own premise was, so the initial early December date slipped, then mid-month, and I finally decided to declare a hiatus for the holidays. I've begun contacting the authors of the sixteen or so blogs that confirmed they'd like to participate this week. However, some are easier to reach and more enthusiastic than others, and since I doubt I'll ever run such a crossover again, I'd like this to be as convoluted and insane as possible. That's why I'm flinging the doors open with an open call to whoever has an interest in joining the fun.

Here's more details I sent out to those blogs...

I don't want to suffocate anyone here with a specific structure. We all have our own styles, and I want everyone to have the opportunity to do their own thing. To that end, if you would prefer to use anagrams, crossword puzzles, Java-enabled hangman, madlibs, dirty limericks-- whatever challenge you want to present to your readers, so long as you do your own work and link out to everyone else, is alright with me. In fact, if challenges aren't your style, and you just want to ramble about how you hate every character in this event, roll how you want. Take the picture I give you, post the links, and make the rest your own.

Interested parties are urged to contact me directly at email_of_diabolu@yahoo.com . The event is scheduled for February 1, 2010, and is enough of a pain that I actually built a new blog just to offer participants a tutorial/FAQ to help them along. Consider that fair warning of what you'd be getting into. Also, most of the better DC Universe characters are already taken, so you'd better have sincere love in your heart for C and D-listers...

Justice League of America #177 (April, 1980)

Aquaman: Took on a Russian trawler in the Mid-Atlantic Ocean illegally harvesting dolphins. "You people never learn, do you? You think you can rape the sea, the way you've raped the land! Isn't it enough you spill your wastes in our waters? Isn't it enough you sink oil tankers in breeding grounds? In Neptune's name, you may not have had enough-- but I have!" The Sea King took a few lumps, but called on a whale to bat the sailors off their ship. Strangely, they then transformed into large, bobbing, featureless and angular statues.

The Atom: Helped a pal foil kidnappers in Ivy Town by riding along in the payoff briefcase. Was shocked when the creeps turned into two statues like Aquaman's with a third appearing with religious iconography.

Green Arrow and Black Canary: Dressed as bikers in Star City, the pair karate chopped their way into a white trash/supremacist rally. They were then attacked by an animated statue of a knight riding a horse's head, a chess piece brought to dangerous life. A Canary Cry shattered it.

Batman and Superman: Having foiled hijackers at Gotham Airport, the World's Finest were assailed by fiery cannonballs from mobile castles/rooks. Switching to kryptonite projectiles, the Man of Steel was bowled over, leaving the Dark Knight to detonate explosives in yet another chess piece.

Zatanna: On the JLA Satellite in orbit 22,300 miles above Earth, Zee compared the reported assaults while on monitor duty. "You're the detective, Batman. I'm 'just' a sorceress. But from where I sit, it looks like you've all been involved in the opening gambits of some cosmic chess game, with deadly pieces... I think we'd better call an emergency meeting!"

Elsewhere in the cosmos, a purple flying saucer rested in outer space. Within sat a chess board, half filled with pieces representing the full JLofA membership, including Elongated Man, Hawkman and Hawkgirl, Green Lantern Hal Jordan, the Flash, Red Tornado, Wonder Woman, and the rest. Not among them was a long absent former member, the Manhunter from Mars, who was instead bound in the opposite chair. Manhunter's chess pieces having largely fallen, his opponent cackled.

"HAHAHAHAHA! It seems the opening moves have all ended in my favor! How ironic that I should be pleased by the victories of the Justice League... I, Despero, who despise them more than I despise any other group of beings in the universe! But you see, that's why I've chosen them as my champions, J'onn J'onzz... for the irony! In this game I have forced you to play, you must defeat and kill your friends in the Justice League, using those pieces I created for you... for if you fail, and lose the game... then your fellow Martian exiles will die, and you will be to blame! YOUR MOVE, MARTIAN MANHUNTER!"

"The Graveyard Gambit" was by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin & Frank McLaughlin.

1985 Steel Fan Art by Carl W. Taylor and Henry Mayo

Hello again, everyone. Sorry for the absence of posts over the holidays, but I've been spinning plates, and I hoped all those custom action figures would distract you. Plus, I've got some plans for posts in the near future that should make folks who follow this blog feel less like it's a red-headed stepchild on my agenda.

Speaking of ginger undesirables, here's vintage fan art by Carl W. Taylor, a frequent contributor to Amazing Heroes magazine. The far more literate antecedent to Wizard published throughout the 1980s, this piece appeared in the letters column to September 15, 1985's Amazing Heroes #79, under a letter from Nancy A. Collins railing against Chris Claremont, 80s New Wave acts, Prince, Don McGregor, and Bill Mantlo. She invokes the specter of Frederick Wertham in relation to American Flag!, and Swamp Thing. Collins even finds time to praise Rick Veitch and wonder if hints that Hawkeye was descended from Captain America would ever be paid off*. This went on for about a page and a half.

Unusually enough, Steel (or rather his grandpa in Commander garb) also appeared earlier in the issue, in an All-Star Squadron spread illustrating an article speculating about the exact birthdates of Justice Society of America members. Ah, geekdom. You live on in message boards...



*No.