DC Universe Legacies #1 of 10

[theanswer]

I noticed some people remarking on how a lot of DC comics are avoiding anything upbeat or bright lately. It made me think of this moment from the first issue DC Universe Legacies, a ten issue mini-series featuring stories about DC's first heroes.

This story is narrated by an old man named Paul Lincoln. Paul is talking to a character who is either off panel or he is talking to the reader. He is recalling an era from when he was a child, mobsters and crime ruled the nation and people lived in fear of violence. Then one day the newspapers began printing sensational stories of masked vigilantes apprehending criminals and saving innocent people from harm.

He collects clippings concerning the Crimson Avenger and one night his friend Jimmy, who is a bit of a no good hood, tells him about a job they can take for some money. Unfortunately, they figure out the job is tied in with the mob and they get caught in a shoot out when some of those masked heroes appear, Sandman and the Atom. One of the mobsters fires a shot at the Atom's head when Paul shouts to alert him, Atom dodges the shot and after the criminals are taken care of he has something to say to the boys...






Afterwards, Paul and Jimmy discuss their future, the direction it's heading, and how the world around them is changing. Paul believes they need to change with it.



The paradigm has shifted.



 The rest of the issue has some detectives remarking on the rumors/stories of other heroes. Like a man with a golden helmet able to control magics governing fate, a pale ghost in a green shroud that catches bullets with his teeth and can grow to enormous sizes, the famous Zatara using his tricks to fight crime, and a warrior with wings swooping down from the sky.  

Suggested Tags:
char: atom/al pratt
char: sandman/wesley dodds
creator: andy kubert
creator: joe kubert
creator: len wein
publisher: dc comics

Comments

[xammax]

Looks like Jimmy needs the Batman approach.

[espanolbot]

I don't know, the Sandman approach also works. That being hosing criminals with a powerful sleeping agent/halluncinagen which results in a raspy voiced man in a distorting gasmask yelling at them.

[silverzeo]

What, Atom is midget or something? I thought he was 5'something tall not 4....

[theanswer]

Al was 5'1" which is about the same height as an average young pre-teen/teenage boy.

[icon_uk]

Yeah, but he's shown here as being significantly shorter than either boy.

[theanswer]

They're tall boys.

[icon_uk]

I refer my learned colleague to the first panel. No, they're really not. :)

The art is lovely, but the figures scale is all over the place.

[theanswer]

They're tall boys that are practically squatting.

[icon_uk]

I suspect that the Atom is either standing in a ditch, or the kids found a couple of boxes to stand on.

[espanolbot]

Won't that make Wesley Dodds like seven foot tall?

Unless their heights are shown from the narrator's perspective or something, so the taller one is very tall, while the short one is shorter.

[valtyr]

The Atom has size changing powers, right? Plenty of adults crouch down to talk to kids.

[theanswer]

The original Atom does not have the same powers of those who followed him.

[valtyr]

I wonder if the artist forgot? He is really short there.

[theanswer]

I doubt that.

[jlbarnett]

someone probably told the artist "This Atom is always the shortest guy in the room" not thinking about kids.

[espanolbot]

This community needs more Wesley Dodds. Before he took on Sandy as his sidekick through editorial mandate, his assistant/partner in crimefighting as actually his long term partner Dian Belmont, who was the daughter of the New York district attorney and later went on to become a Nobel Prize winning novelist.

The pair were also together from the mid/late thirties all the way up to their deaths in the mid-nineties, 'cept they never actually got married as Dian didn't want to loose her independence at the time and be seen as "Dodd's Wife" or something.

[glprime]

I would bring up common law marriage, but a brief Google trip/wiki walk shows that New York did away with recognizing common law contracts from within the state as of 1933 (five years before the two would've first met).

[espanolbot]

Huh, they seemed to get messed around at lot in terms of marriage laws. As Wesley's mother and father had to go to... Massachusetts I think to get married, as she was Jewish and he was Catholic, and it was illegal back then apparently.

[sailorlibra]

Why isn't Black Canary in the picture? She's on the cover.

[snugglebitch]

Life thought she was too scandalous for their readership?

[psychopathicus_rex]

It's possible that she hadn't joined yet at that point. The JSA's membership was all over the map for the first few years - there were always new people joining.

[iskander]

Good to see the Specter back in the JSA.

[psychopathicus_rex]

His being a member never really made sense to me, actually. I mean, why on earth would the Specter need to join a team? He's quite possibly the most powerful being in the WORLD, not to mention possibly the universe. All the others - even Superman, back then - had at least SOME weaknesses, enough that being a member of a team would be to their advantage, but the Specter? Imagine having HIM on your team!

Radio: News flash! The Injustice League is holding the entire city of Washington DC hostage! They demand that the president step down and declare them leaders of the USA!

Wildcat: Holy smokes! Looks like we better...

Specter: I'M ON IT. *whoosh*

Radio: News flash! The Injustice League has been foiled! A giant arm just picked up the whole lot of them and... What's that? A new report has come in - it appears that they have all been deposited in holding cells across the city. Authorities...

Wildcat: *turning it off* Never mind.

Sandman: Dammit, we haven't seen any action for weeks! When's that big spooky creep gonna let the rest of us join in?

Green Lantern: *sighs* I dunno... Wanna play pinochle?

Sandman: I'm tired of playing pinochle!

Specter: *whoosh* I WOULD LIKE TO PLAY SOME PINOCHLE.

Sandman: Shut up!

[psychopathicus_rex]

I can't say I understand why they stopped having the Sandman in a plain ol' ordinary gasmask, instead of the version he wears here. I mean, sure, it's distinctive, but so is a gasmask - those things looked spooky.