And we’re again. That is your inquisitive columnist Alex Jaffe, higher recognized within the DC Group as HubCityQuestion. My private mission: to tackle any query you could have concerning the DC Universe—irrespective of how unusual, granular, or obscure—and fulfill your curiosity. As a devoted steward of the reality, I provide my time on this month-to-month column to handle these inquiries. In the event you’d wish to submit one in all your individual, you’ll be able to cease by my workplace at any time within the DC Group to make your inquiries, every of which I’ll in time handle to one of the best of my capacity. Let’s get some solutions!
Encyclopedia Extraterrestria, Vol. 4: P-R
Jeff-Midnighter asks:
Thanagarians, Kryptonians, Kherubims, oh my. What number of aliens have come, gone, or stayed on Earth?
Our continued extraterrestrial catalog continues apace right here, in my exhaustive try to handle this specific inquiry. You might seek the advice of earlier installments of this column for Earth-visiting aliens underneath A-O, in addition to the lengthy checklist of caveats and exceptions concerning the sorts of alien races which won’t be showing right here. In the event you nonetheless assume I missed one, please don’t hesitate to write down. We’ll embody any famous species which have evaded my gaze in an appendix on the finish.
Palindrordnilap: A brief, red-skinned race of opportunists who rush in to try to fill the facility vacuum after Hal Jordan exterminated the Guardians in Emerald Twilight. Their first recruit is Man Gardner, who redubs them the “Gardners of the Universe.”
Parademons: Darkseid’s flying race of shock troops and enforcers who unfold his terror all through the universe. Degree of sentience unclear.
Parasites: The dragon-like “Parasites” of the ’90s “Bloodlines” crossover got here to Earth from a pocket universe to feed on human spinal fluid. A small minority of these the Parasites hooked up to would stay and have their metagenes activated.
Plutonians: Like Neptunians, the residents of the dwarf planet (recover from it) Pluto aren’t depicted with a lot consistency. However in early Surprise Lady comics, it is revealed that they have been abducting people because the Roman Empire to be used as residing batteries and ornament.
Proteans: Clever, globular beings with shapeshifting talents from Antares II. Stored as pets for a time by the Legion of Tremendous-Heroes, one Protean, Child Quantum, would be a part of the group as a full member as soon as their intelligence was higher understood.
Psions: One of many cruelest races within the recognized universe, the Psions have been created from easy lizard creatures by the Maltusians as a part of their very own analysis on the complexities of life within the universe. The Psions, now of the Vega star system, have inherited their creators’ penchant for chilly experimentation, at occasions touring so far as Earth to collect topics.
Punkusians: A race of humanoid crocodile males from the planet Punkus. Herkimer, aka “Crocodile Man,” is Mister Thoughts’s second-in-command within the Monster Society of Evil.
Quantum Mechanics: An extremely massive, planet-dwarfing race of beings of immeasurable energy born instantly after the Massive Bang. These beings as soon as kidnapped the complete planet as a part of an try and breach the veil separating the mortal realm and Heaven.
Ramoxians: A metallic-skinned race that resembles Tin from the Steel Males if he went evil. Having genetically eradicated tendencies in direction of prison motion on their planet, one Ramoxian generally known as “Slaar” was exiled for his genetic predisposition in direction of crime. Aided by the Monitor so as to take a look at Superman for the approaching Disaster, this “Thief-Grasp” arrived on Earth to plunder its sources.
Rannians: Human in look and talent in each approach, the principle distinction between people and the individuals of Rann can be their retro-futuristic structure and expertise. Alanna, the Rannian spouse of Adam Unusual, has been proven residing on Earth together with her husband.
Ravagers: White-skinned humanoids with batlike options, impressed to flout the authority of God by way of acts of planetary destruction after discovering the human story of the Bible. Sometimes Hal Jordan’s downside.
The Attain: A humanoid, insectoid hybrid individuals who conquer planets and increase their conquest by way of a mixture of navy and diplomatic means. Recognized greatest for his or her use of clever “Scarab” bioweapons which graft themselves to a bunch to make them into an unwitting superior scout—reminiscent of within the case of the Blue Beetle, Jaime Reyes.
Useful resource Raiders: Inexperienced-skinned aliens with crimson eyes on prehensile stalks, camel-like heads, and massive furry mandibles. Typically foiled by the Legion of Tremendous-Heroes one thousand years sooner or later of their makes an attempt to plunder Earth.
Rhorhmorids: These orange-skinned aliens look a bit like elven Tamaraneans. A tradition of warriors who additionally prized youth and sweetness, one Rhormorid generally known as “Mystress” got here to Earth so as to steal the supernatural fantastic thing about our world’s feminine metahumans.
Rykornians: Additionally referred to as the “plant individuals,” the vegetable-based organisms of the Rykorn planetoid fell to Earth after getting caught in its gravitational subject. An impromptu invasion on their half was resisted by Surprise Lady and the Holliday Women.
Toy Tales
timmay_bird asks:
Do you reply questions unrelated to comics? If that’s the case, when was the primary Alan Scott toy made?
I take any and every kind of questions, so long as I may even tangentially argue that they’re associated to DC. That’s what I’m right here for!
By the point DC actually began specializing in merchandise past the staples of Batman and Superman, Alan Scott had already been all however phased out of comics in favor of his Silver Age counterpart. In reality, the primary Inexperienced Lantern determine was launched as a part of the primary wave of the Tremendous Powers assortment in 1984, bearing the visage of Hal Jordan. Alan Scott wouldn’t be featured as a toy till the 2000 Justice Society of America assortment from the DC Direct line, alongside Starman (Ted Knight), the Flash (Jay Garrick), and an era-appropriate Surprise Lady.
Breakout Efficiency
Jurisdiction asks:
Have any of the characters created for Batman ‘66 been seen exterior of Batman ‘66 continuity?
As a result of the Batman ’60s TV present was produced earlier than DC was owned by Warner Bros within the Seventies, additional licensing of the collection’ distinctive mental property has not all the time been a easy authorized matter. Nevertheless, sure authentic characters have made their approach into later DC initiatives since they first appeared in your Bat-Channel.
Take Commissioner Gordon’s right-hand man, the gormless Chief Clancy O’Hara. Performed within the collection by Stafford Repp, O’Hara made his comics debut in All-Star Comics #67 (1977). A flashback in World’s Best #159 established him as Gotham’s police chief early in Batman’s profession, and he turned the primary sufferer of the Hangman Killer in Batman: Darkish Victory #1.
As for these iconic villains…
King Tut (Victor Buono) has made plenty of appearances since his Batman ’66 debut within the comics, most importantly in Batman Confidential #26-28—marketed closely on the time because the TV favourite villain’s comedian debut.
One of many present’s most infamous authentic foes, Egghead (Vincent Worth), makes an look in Harley Quinn #38 (2018), when Penguin sends essentially the most pathetic of Gotham’s criminals in pursuit of Harley.
Bookworm (Roddy McDowall) is featured in Gotham Academy as Mr. Scarlet, Professor of English Literature. (Louie the Lilac and Egghead seem as professors in Gotham Academy as effectively.)
The villainous pianist Chandell (Liberace) makes a quick cameo in Harley Quinn: Villain of the 12 months, performing on the super-villain award ceremony.
Moreover, the animated collection Batman: The Courageous and the Daring typically employs background Batman ’66 villains as crowd fillers in Arkham scenes—together with Disgrace, the Archer, the Black Widow, the Siren, Zelda the Nice, and among the others I discussed above.
Ma Parker (Shelley Winters) is a curious case, because the maternal gangster bears placing similarities to Ma Gunn in “Second Probabilities,” the Put up-Disaster Jason Todd origin story, Gretel, a villain from the Gotham TV collection, and Ma Homicide, as she seems in Batman: The Courageous and the Daring. However on this occasion, all of those villains might actually be drawing from the identical actual world inspiration of Ma Barker, an precise prison who was lively through the early twentieth century.
Dwelling Past Your Memes
GunitG7 asks:
That is two questions in a single (technically three, since I needed to verify if it’s true). Just lately, I discovered that Batman has claimed Gotham Metropolis to be Off-Limits to the Inexperienced Lantern Corps; they’re solely allowed to function in Gotham with Batman’s permission. Apparently, that is solely recognized to the GLs of Earth, in addition to the Guardians.
If that is true, I needed to know two issues:
- When did Batman declare Gotham Off-Limits to the Inexperienced Lanterns?
- When did the Guardians discover out about Batman’s GL coverage?
I’ve seen this declare made earlier than on unsourced comedian memes, however I don’t consider it’s really true. Batman and Hal have had their variations up to now, however there have been loads of tales the place the Inexperienced Lanterns have been welcome in Gotham. As an example:
If I needed to make a guess, I’d say that the originator of this rumor is The Courageous and the Daring #155 (1979), an early Batman/Inexperienced Lantern team-up. On this Pre-Disaster story by Bob Haney and Jim Aparo, Batman and Hal Jordan come into battle over their mutual pursuit of the alien Tri Vul of Calphonus. Tri Vul is needed by the Guardians for tampering with Earth, and by Batman for particularly tampering with Gotham Metropolis, however the two settle the jurisdiction battle by working the case collectively. No particular ban on Inexperienced Lantern operation in Gotham Metropolis is ever acknowledged on this story, however the severity of this specific zoning dispute has grown within the retelling.
Principally, don’t belief any comedian memes you see with out a supply, particularly in the event that they’re about how badass Batman is. The web tends in direction of exaggeration, and albeit, Batman doesn’t want any assist being superior.
And that’s on a regular basis we’ve got this month! Be part of me in thirty (give or take) after we’ll flip our eyes again to the skies for no matter mysteries of the DC Universe await us. Maybe amongst them can be one in all your individual. However to make that occur, you’re going to have to search out the braveness inside to ASK…THE QUESTION.
Obtained one thing that is conserving you up nights? If in case you have a query concerning the DC Universe that you just’d like to get answered, you’ll be able to head on over to the DC Group 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 DCComics.com. Observe him on Twitter at @AlexJaffe and discover him within the DC Group as HubCityQuestion.
NOTE: The views and opinions expressed on this column are solely these of Alex Jaffe and don’t essentially replicate these of DC Leisure or Warner Bros.
