Welcome to the one hundred and first version of ASK…THE QUESTION, the month-to-month column the place we do our degree greatest to resolve all of the mysteries of the DC Universe that you simply demand options for. I’m Alex Jaffe, your appointed champion of reality and inquisition, higher recognized within the DC Neighborhood as HubCityQuestion. Your urge for food for solutions has confirmed practically as prodigious as my very own, my comrades in comics! Let’s see what this month has in retailer for us.
Classes Realized
RexRebel asks:
LL individuals are a giant a part of the Superman mythos. When was it first referenced within the comics?
The an identical initials of Lois Lane and Lana Lang have been the topic of a recurring joke by means of early problems with Superman’s Woman Buddy, Lois Lane—the place Superman “settles” the rivalry between Lois and Lana by promising he’ll marry the lady with the initials “LL.” In Motion Comics #252, the primary look of Kara Zor-El as Supergirl, Superman notes with curiosity that his cousin has chosen an id with the identical initials as the opposite girls in his life, earlier than dismissing it as coincidence.
However the sheer proliferation of LLs in Superman’s life is overtly acknowledged in full for the primary time in 1962’s Superman #157. In “Superman’s Day of Doom!” written by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel himself, a prediction machine from a distant galaxy informs Superman that his life might be saved that day by somebody named “LL, ”which leads him to contemplate for the primary time simply how many individuals in his life bear these initials. (It seems to not be Lana Lang, or Lois Lane, or Lori Lemaris, or Lightning Lad, or Linda Lee, and even Lex Luthor, however a Little League baseball participant.)
That is the Story of a(n Aqua)lady
Reaganfan78 asks:
In the present day I used to be studying Aquaman: A Celebration of 75 Years. In a single story, earlier than Mera, there was an Aquagirl who was additionally blonde. No matter occurred to her? Was she ever seen once more as Aquagirl or was she was Mera?
You’ve stumbled upon a curious artifact of Aquaman historical past: the unique Aquagirl, Lisa Morel, whose first and solely look in 1959’s Journey Comics #266 predates Mera’s debut by 4 years, and even the primary Aqualad by three points.
As we uncover within the story, Lisa was an Atlantean who was exiled to the floor world because of the unreliability of her evolutionary diversifications and was raised by a marine biologist who hid her origins from her. When Lisa by accident discovers her personal partial Atlantean powers, she makes an attempt to affix Aquaman in maritime crimefighting as the primary Aquagirl, however is pressured into retirement when she learns it’s only a matter of time earlier than her powers fade away fully.
Though Lisa Morel hasn’t returned since that story, it does introduce a component to Aquaman lore which has remained vital to today—the marker of purple eyes, like Lisa’s, being a trigger for ostracization and exile from Atlantean society.
Robin Regression
Corpsmember.78 asks:
Has Dick Grayson ever donned the Robin uniform after turning into Nightwing to assist out Batman or anybody else? Has there ever been talks of a collection the place we have now a Dick Grayson who by no means grew to become Nightwing and stayed Robin? With the New DCU kicking off, it looks like there ought to be a world the place that may be a risk.
Since turning into Nightwing, Dick’s adopted quite a lot of alternate identities, from Agent 37 to Batman himself, however he’s by no means gone again to being Robin. Nonetheless, the world the place Dick by no means grew to become Nightwing and stayed Robin will not be solely attainable, however well-established. Such is the case with the Pre-Disaster Earth Two, the place Dick stays Robin into his maturity (aside from a short interlude within the function of Batman). After Batman’s retirement, Robin turns into the senior member of the Dynamic Duo, mentoring Huntress, Bruce’s daughter Helena Wayne.
The Longest Bench
moonknightrider2.98991 asks:
Final summer season in Stargirl’s Earth-Prime TV tie-in, James Robinson had the unique Blue Beetle’s sidekick Sparky make his first comedian look in a long time. Additionally they talked about Fawcett hero Diamond Jack within the new problem of JSA. That prompted me to marvel what was the longest time interval thus far between DC buying different firms’ characters and them really utilizing them?
DC acquired the Charlton Comics heroes like Blue Beetle, Captain Atom and the Query in 1983, from which DC inherited Sparky, beforehand of Fox Options Syndicate within the Forties. Measuring from his acquisition to his first use by DC in 2022, that might be a span of 29 years. As for Fawcett, DC first licensed their assortment of characters in 1972, buying them totally in 1994. From 1972 to 2023, when Diamond Jack appeared only in the near past, is 51 years. Mathematically, no character from Fawcett or Charlton can beat that quantity based mostly on after they have been acquired.
However what about High quality Comics? High quality, the unique house of Plastic Man, the Blackhawks and the Freedom Fighters, bought its personal assortment of characters to DC in 1956. If there are any High quality characters who have been first utilized by DC in 2007 on the earliest, that might probably beat Diamond Jack’s file.
Initially, I believed I had a solution on lock. Miss Homicide, as soon as the identify of a Doll Man villain from the High quality Comics years, appeared as an enforcer of the Fraction in The Flash #791 this January. However after I introduced this as much as Flash author Jeremy Adams, he assured me the identify was a coincidence.
Fortunately, I’ve obtained a solution practically nearly as good. In 2018’s Harley Quinn #52, High quality Comics characters Biff Banks and Kim Meredith seem for the primary time because the Forties, previously supporting characters to Crack Comics’ Captain Triumph. That’s a 62-year absence, beating Diamond Jack by over a decade. And till somebody decides it’s time to carry Tommy Tinkle from Hit Comics #1 out of retirement, that’s the place the file stands.
Velocity Pressure Crash Course
Wrightline1.42741 asks:
Why have not one of the Superman Household ever had any involvement with the Velocity Pressure? Is there some form of proprietary possession by the Flash of us that doesn’t allow any “sharing” of the Pressure? Or is it one thing else?
Okay, right here’s a fast and soiled lesson about how the Velocity Pressure works. It’s not merely a matter of going actually quick, however tapping right into a subplanar realm of pure pace by establishing a connection to it. Barry Allen did this when he was struck by lightning whereas adjoining to an array of chemical compounds, which coincidentally, gave him the flexibility to faucet into it.
Bursts of the Velocity Pressure into our personal realm are what empowers the Flash and his allies. It’s not speedsters who initially entry the Velocity Pressure, however the Velocity Pressure which chooses them…kind of like a extra localized Inexperienced Lantern ring. There have been quite a lot of villains who’ve tapped into the Velocity Pressure by, properly, pressure, however that’s by no means been an excellent factor. Messing with the elemental underpinning forces of the universe to your personal achieve at all times spells catastrophic imbalance. Which may clarify why heroes like Superman have by no means sought a approach to hook up with it.
That’s to not say it’s by no means occurred earlier than. Take, as an example, Batman, who seeks out the Velocity Pressure in Darkish Nights: Batman – The Purple Loss of life. As I’ve alluded…the outcomes are lower than very best. Finest to depart the Velocity Pressure properly sufficient alone, till the lightning comes for you.
And that brings us rushing to the conclusion of one other version of our illustrious column. Till #102, you’ll be able to at all times discover me in my detective’s headquarters, poised and ready so that you can ASK…THE QUESTION.
Obtained one thing that is protecting you up nights? If in case you have a query in regards to the DC Universe that you simply’d like to get answered, you’ll be able to head on over to the DC Neighborhood and ask it right here.
Alex Jaffe is the creator of our month-to-month “Ask the Query” column and writes about TV, motion pictures, comics and superhero historical past for DC.com. Comply with him on Twitter at @AlexJaffe and discover him within the DC Neighborhood as HubCityQuestion.
NOTE: The views and opinions expressed on this column are solely these of Alex Jaffe and don’t essentially mirror these of DC Leisure or Warner Bros.
