Monday 27 February 2012

Who Was Who Is Who #9

So for want of anything better to write about on a Monday, and with DC's New 52 well under way (how long are they keeping that title do you think?) I'm going to go through all my copies of Who's Who and see if I can predict who will make it over to the new DCU by the end of this year, who might make it and who hasn't got a Computo's chance.

CHRONOS - poor old Ray Palmer, eh? Never really had what you'd call a good array of villains. Bug-Eyed Bandit and Chronos? Man, no wonder he ended up jacking the whole thing in and going to live in a land where everyone else was six inches tall. Chronos, though? Can't see him turning up any time soon.

CINNAMON - yet another character who could benefit from All Star Western, it seems even more likely that she'll show up since Nighthawk appeared in the sneak peeks a couple of weeks back (actually just a day or so ago from when this was written - lead time, people!) With that appearance, I'm willing to bump her up from a possible to a definite by the end of 2012.

CIRCE - perhaps Wonder Woman's main villain (at least from the point of view of this non-Wondy reading bloke) I really don't know whether we'll get to see Circe any time soon what with the emphasis apparently being on the gods and monsters side of things. I'm going for a maybe at some point, but not before the end of 2012.


THE CITADEL - principally Omega Men villains, I don't think we should wait up for these guys.

CLAW THE UNCONQUERED - perhaps because he showed up in Time Masters: Vanishing Point, it wouldn't surprise me if he had an appearance in something like DC Universe Presents or even a walk-on role in Demon Knights. I'm going to go for a distant possible, but possible nonetheless.

CLAYFACE - when Who's Who was published back in 1985, it listed three people who had been Clayface in one form or another. Pre-Flashpoint, of course, there were somewhere in the region of 48,000 different versions. Will one of the many, many Clayfaces make it back into the DCU? I'm going to say not before the end of the year.

CLOCK KING - another of those villains whose name gave a clue to their modue operandi, William Tockman's Clock King would be a third string Green Arrow villain (and really, is the much lower?) until he joined the Injustice League and ended up in Antarctica. Where he became a third string ex-con turned hero. But hey, he was funny. Is he coming back? No.

CLUEMASTER - and here's his team-mate in the Injustice League who started off as a villain, reformed, became something of a joke and then got all serious again. Honestly, though, getting a little grim because your daughter has apparently died seems fair enough. Like Clock King, however, I can't see him coming back.

COLONEL COMPUTRON - one of Flash's odder villains, a portable computer system and exoskeleton may have turned one of three (or maybe all three) into . . . oh, you know what? He ain't coming back.

COLONEL FUTURE - not really a Superman villain, more a misguided scientist who was trying to do what he thought was the right thing. It's unlikely that we'll see him again, but I do wonder if his alter ego of Edmond Hamilton was later repurposed into Emil Hamilton? Not really much to go on except the surname and the fact they were both scientists connected to Superman, but still.

COLOR KID - one of the Legion of Substitute Heroes, I kinda doubt that we'll be seeing him or any of his group soon.

COLOSSAL BOY - and the first (as far as I'm aware) of this week's characters to be already in place, Colossal Boy stands tall in Legion of Super-Heroes. Unless someone wants to tell me different?

COMMANDER STEEL - grandfather of Steel from the Detroit League, Commander Steel was retro-fitted into the World War II era. Depending on when the forthcoming Earth-2 takes place, it's possible that we might see him in a flashback or two, but I'm not going to put money on that.

COMPOSITE SUPERMAN - hey kids, can you say "crazy sixties comic book invention"? What were they thinking back then? Superman and Batman don't shift enough comics so we'll create something that's not only half and half, but also has powers of several Legionnaires? A version (in the loose sense) turned up as a giant robot a few years back but I can't see this original guy showing up. Ever.

COMPUTO - a Legionnaire villain that showed how dangerous computers can be in the future. Yeah, that came true, didn't it? Won't be seeing this villain any time soon.



Summary for this week: one in place (Colossal Boy), one definite (Cinnamon), one really vague possibility (Claw the Unconquered)

And the summary for February:


Week
In Place
Definite
Possible
6
Brainiac 5
Brain Storm
Brotherhood of Evil

Brainiac
Freedom (nee B'wana) Beast
7
Captain Atom
Captain Boomerang
Captain Cold
Captain Marvel
Captain Marvel Jr.
Calendar Man
8
E-1 Catwoman
Chameleon Boy
Challengers of the Unknown
E-2 Catwoman
Changeling
Cheshire
The Chief
9
Colossal Boy
Cinnamon
Claw the Unconquered

4 comments:

  1. Computo "needed an upgrade" in LSH 5. Colossal Boy, like most of the visually interesting Legionnaires, has been written out since New 52 began.

    The modern Clock King might be back, I think (the one inspired by the Batman Animated Series).The third Clayface was certainly gruesome enough for modern DC.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So Computo has appeared? Or just been name checked? And Colossal Boy's not in the new Legion book? Did the internet lie to me?!

      Delete
  2. At the very least, Colossal Boy is in Legion: Secret Origin, so he's survived to the New 52.

    Edmond Hamilton/Colonel Future and Emil Hamilton possibly share the same Homage Tree - SF and DC Comics writer Edmond Hamilton, who wrote the pulp adventures of Captain Future.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Martin - I do try to check up on some of the characters as I write these posts!

      Delete

Thanks for wanting to leave a comment, but this blog is no longer maintained. Feel free to visit my new site/blog over at

crisisonearthprime.com

Look forward to seeing you there. :)

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails