The Amazing Story of Superman-Red and Superman-Blue

"The Amazing Story of Superman-Red and Superman-Blue" first appeared in Superman #162 (July, 1963), by Leo Dorfman, Curt Swan and George Klein (and cover by Kurt Schaffenberger)....and it was a doozy!  Superman decides he has too much to do, so makes a machine that will increase his intelligence (powered by the many colors of Kryptonite), and does increase his intelligence (but also permanently splits Superman into two equal beings, one Superman-Blue, the other, Superman-Red).  With two Supermen, he is able to cure all the world's ails, reform the villains, even marry Lois and Lana (and start a family and retire).

Pretty good for an imaginary story, right?


But, this wasn't the end of the story....

Reprints

It's worth noting that this story was indeed a very good story, as shown by the number of times it has been reprinted.  First in the 100-Page Super-Spectacular DC-18 (July, 1973, with a cover by Nick Cardy), in the Best of DC #19 (December, 1981, with a cover by Ross Andru and Dick Giordano)...

...in the Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told from 1987 (both hardcover and softcover versions), and in DC's Greatest Imaginary Stories #1 under a Brian Bolland cover from 2005 (and soon after, the "imaginary story" was classified to Earth-168, putting it as a part of DC Continuity, though removed a bit....with a brief appearance in the Kingdom #2 and in Infinite Crisis #5)

Return

Superman-Red and Superman-Blue returned as a part of the usual DC Universe in an unnumbered Superman Spectacular in 1982, with "The Startling Saga Of Superman-Red And Superman-Blue" by Bob Rozakis, Paul Kupperberg, Adrian Gonzales and Vince Colletta (with Gonzales providing the cover).  Superman foe, the space cowboy on the flying horse, Terra-Man, finds some Red Kryptonite, and working with Lex Luthor, expose Superman to it (causing the Man of Steel to split into Superman-Red and Superman-Blue), with the duo capturing Terra-Man, but not Luthor, who then learns magic to threaten Lois Lane, while the two Supermen re-merge, then beat Luthor and save Lois.

Electric

For a time, Superman's powers changed from the Kryptonian powerhouse that he was to a more electric based hero, starting with Superman #123 (May, 1997) by Dan Jurgens, Ron Frenz and Joe Rubenstein.  This lasted for a while (from "Superman Triangle Numbers" #19 of 1997 to #21 of 1998, including a Superman Red/Superman Blue special, with the dueling electrical Supermen in February of 1998, with triangle #6 of 1998, where the Superman Red premiered in), and the two had re-merged into a "classic" Superman in Superman Forever #1 (June, 1998) after defeating the Millennium Giants. 

Rebirth

With the death of the New 52 Superman, an earlier Superman returned to be the "new" Man of Steel, and very recently, Superman #18, Action Comics #975, Superman #19 (revealing the older Superman to have a "blue" energy, and the newer, deceased one to have released his "red" energy" and Action Comics #976 (all 2017, Superman #18 and #19 by Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason and Mick Grey, the Action Comics by Dan Jurgens, Doug Mahnke and Jaime Mendoza)...

...give the saga of Superman Red/Superman Blue new life for the new Millennium, seeing Superman Reborn!

Happy Birthday Johnny Thunder

Say, you know today, July 7th, is the birthday of Johnny Thunder?

Who is Johnny Thunder you might ask?

Johnny is a Golden Age superhero (or, as they were called back then, mystery man), who premiered in Flash Comics #1 (January, 1940) by John B. Wentworth and Stan Aschmeier.  Johnny was born in the Bronx, on the seventh day of the seventh month on a year that ended with seven (1917), but kidnapped by the High Priest of Aissor to be taken to the country of Badhnisia.

There, he was given power over the Thunderbolt called Yz with the phrase Cei-U (which, sounds like "say, you"), and Johnny could control when he uttered the T-Bolt's control phrase and command to do whatever Johnny could think of (but Johnny wasn't exactly a deep thinker).  Johnny joined both the Justice Society of America and wartime All-Star Squadron, and worked tirelessly for the good, surviving many a Crisis....and even appearing recently in DC Universe: Rebirth #1 (July, 2016), though you might not have recognized the old man without his Thunderbolt.

Johnny wasn't the only one to weld a Thunderbolt!  Here's a look at a few others....

Jonni Thunder, Detective

Jonni Thunder first appeared in Jonni Thunder #1 (February, 1985), the first of four issues by writers Roy and Dann Thomas, and drawn by Dick Giordano.

Jonni was a west coast detective who lived an ordinary life with her '57 Thunderbird...at least until a laser blast hit an old statue of her dad's....and Jonni was able to manifest as an energy being similar to lightning, with all its properties, while her body was unconscious.

Still had to solve crimes, though her new ability with the Thunderbolt helped, and at least for the mini-series, lived without other super-heroes, though Jonni make it to the Monitor's satellite (and cover of Crisis On Infinite Earths #5, next to the Golden Age Flash and above Psycho-Pirate) and did participate at a detective's convention in Crisis On Infinite Earths along with Harvey Bullock and Christopher Chance (the Human Target), in a case involving Angle Man's Angler (and helping the Star-Spangled Kid fight original Green Lantern foe, Knodar, the last criminal, in Infinity, Inc. #24 from March, 1986, placing Jonni on Earth-2....for as long as Earth-2 lasted after Crisis). 

Jonni was attacked by her Thunderbolt in Infinity, Inc. #31 (October, 1986), and drew closer to Sylvester.  Jonni stuck around Infinity, Inc., as she and Sylvester Pemberton (the former Star-Spangled Kid turned Skyman), and found out the plan of the Thunderbolt in Infinity, Inc. #40 and #41 (July and August, 1987), as the Thunderbolt got a name (that of Mzzttexxal, and a male Thunderbolt named Zzlrrrzzzm possessed Skyman to become Skybolt), and Jonni pretty much disappearing after the disbanding of Infinity, Inc. in Infinity, Inc. #53 (August, 1988). 

JJ Thunder, JSA

Jakeem Thunder or J.J. Thunder ended up being the alias for Jakeem Johnny Williams, who first appeared (though not named) in Flash #134 (February, 1998), as the Golden Age Flash was looking for the Thinker's Thinking Cap, and Johnny Thunder had turned it into a flower pot at the old age home he lived in.  Johnny also had his Thunderbolt in a pen, which J.J. took, which led to JLA #28 to #31 (April to July, 1999) by Grant Morrison and Howard Porter, where Jakeem helped against an invasion from the 5th dimension, that occupied the JLA and remainders of the JSA (Flash, Wildcat, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman/Hippolyta and the Spectre-force without Jim Corrigan), as well as Captain Marvel face Thunderbolt Lkz, with J.J. releasing Yz, eventually merging Lkz with Yz, giving Jakeem the ability to control the combined Thunderbolt with the phrase, "So Cool", and this Crisis Times Five also led into the reformation of the JSA during the Day of Judgment and the JSA's battle with Mordru.

Jakeem's most important storyline ran from JSA #32 to #37 (March to August, 2002), where Earth was threatened by the Ultra-Humanite (secretly in control of Johnny Thunder's body), who uses the T-Bolt to change the world into one of his liking!  During the course of the battle to regain the world, Johnny Thunder suffers fatal wounds, yet merges with the Thunderbolt to become "Johnny Thunderbolt"....with J.J. Thunder now in charge of the combined Johnny and Yz!  Soon after this experience, Jakeem joins the JSA.

Jakeem eventually had a solo story as well, in JSA: Classified #28 (September, 2007). 

Johnny Thunder, Lawman

John Tane was the son of a sheriff and teacher, and wanted to honor them both, but his mother didn't want him participating in the violence western law required.  So, John came up with the identity of Johnny Thunder to fight evil, and did so with his horse, Black Lightning, starting with All-American Comics #100 (August, 1948) by Robert Kanigher and Alex Toth.  Johnny stayed with the title, even when it changed to All-American Western with #103 (November, 1948, losing super-heroes like the Golden Age Green Lantern), staying there until All-American Western #126 (June-July, 1952), where the title changed after to All-American Men of War, and Johnny's feature continued in All-Star Western with #67 (October-November, 1952), though the Trigger Twins (another western feature) kept most of the covers though, with Johnny getting a few, and all towards the end, with All-Star Western #119 (June-July, 1961), with adventures from the 1850s and 1860s.

Johnny updated from his brown western duds to a red and blue outfit in All-Star Western #108 (August-September, 1959), met Madame .44 (Jeanne Walker) in All-Star Western #117 (February-March, 1961, coincidentally the same issue that the Super-Chief first appeared in a separate story, set in the 1490s).  Madame .44 fought with Johnny for his last three appearances, but ended up marrying him, and having kids, as revealed in DC Comics Presents #28 (December, 1980), and even appeared in the Crisis on Infinite Earths of 1985 (though it was 1885 from Johnny's point of view), where he worked with Jonah Hex, Scalphunter, Bat Lash and Nighthawk.  Johnny and Madame .44 also teamed up with Super-Chief, the western El Diablo and Jonah Hex, as well as Firehair and Hawk (son of Tomahawk)....the last two at the end of their careers, all to deal with Swamp Thing (at a time set between the flashback and main story of DC Comics Presents #28) in Swamp Thing #85 (April, 1989).  All of which shows that a western focused article should come on soon...

Evil Earth-1 Johnny

Johnny Thunder had an alternate Earth duplicate (being evil on Earth-1, while the original Johnny was good on Earth-2), who first appeared in Justice League of America #37 (August, 1965) by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky, but this Johnny Thunder was evil, putting criminals into the origins of the JLA members, and only being stopped by the JSA in Justice League of America #38 (September, 1965).  This Johnny Thunder returned in Justice League of America #219 and #220 (October and November, 1983), working with the Crime Champions (villains of two Earths, like the Wizard and Chronos), and again manipulating the Thunderbolt for his own ends.

Johnny also had Bahdnesian Kiku Thunder, who was in the 10 issue Justice Society of America series of the early 1990s (with Jesse Quick), and Willpower (William Twotrees) who was revealed to be Johnny's son in issues of Primal Force, but these characters never really broke out of those series, so will likely get more coverage when those series are covered.


Say, you want to find out more about the original Johnny Thunder?  Read a little of his Justice Society history here, and where to find reprints of his individual Golden Age stories here!

Constant Crisis And Rebirth

With their recent release, DC Comics is working a Rebirth of their universe, and this has gained them a lot of attention.


But, is it really so new?



DC has reinvented itself before.

Beware....plenty of spoilers for comics here.

Crisis On Infinite Earths

This 1985 12-issue mini-series was the big one, this Crisis on Infinite Earths by Marv Wolfman and George Perez...where "Worlds Will Live...Worlds Will Die...And That's Only The Beginning"!

It restructured DC's Multiverse in ways that are still being felt today.  One of the largest changes of the series was that Barry Allen sacrificed himself to save us all....and his protege, the young Kid Flash, Wally West, took up the mantle of the Flash to honor Barry Allen.

This was a pretty bold step for the time, and it shook up the status quo of the DC Universe for decades, and its effects are still being felt today.

Some of the changes weren't well received by the fans, like the elimination of the multiple Earths, and soon after, the Justice Society of America from the DC Universe (in the Last Days of the Justice Society Special of 1986 by Roy Thomas, Dann Thomas, David Ross and Mike Gustovich) didn't sit well, especially since it felt they were taken from DC history as well....and it even took a little time for Wally to truly find his way as the Flash, as he grew up in his own Flash title.

Thankfully, DC brought the Justice Society of America back to its comics...

...and Wally and the original Flash, Jay Garrick were allowed to establish a bond, with Jay serving as Wally's mentor (and Wally standing in for the son Jay and his wife Joan never had....).

Armageddon And Zero Hour

True, the age gap of heroes who started in World War II and the modern heroes was becoming strained (though many attempts at explaining how these heroes had extra vitality were added....after all, the DC Universe was a land of magic rings and super-speed formulas)....simply, if you believed a man could fly, you should also believe he could live a long time, right?

The older heroes were even aged more, and some of them had to change names.  The Armageddon 2001 event of the annuals of 1991 showed us the aging of the modern heroes, but that gave us Waverider, who returned the JSA to us 1992's Armageddon: Inferno, and the JSA aged more (and we got the Starman Jack Knight, and James Robinson's Starman legacy series) out of Zero Hour: Crisis In Time mini-series of 1994...


.....the legacy was becoming a little harder to see, and the old was being pushed aside for the new at times.

Infinite Crisis and Final Crisis

Even death was no longer the end, with DC's multiverse coming back in the Infinite Crisis of 2006....then, Barry Allen returned to the DC Universe, alive and well, as a part of DC's Final Crisis of 2008.


This also caused a bit of a problem...as what to do with Wally?

How can you be a legacy hero if the man you are living up to is alive and well and standing next to you...

....and you have a legacy hero of your own with the former Impulse, now Kid Flash?

Not to mention, if you grow up, doesn't that mean your mentor grows old?

Flashpoint

DC wrestled with this problem, coming up with their Flashpoint series of 2011, that changed the timeline yet again, as Barry Allen had to wrestle with the idea of saving his mom from the Reverse-Flash, as Barry's foe had traveled back in time to kill her (sadly, Barry had to let his mother die to save the multiverse from ending).

This led to the New 52 universe, which didn't have a Wally West until recently...



....and he was a little different than the original Wally (and had yet to take over for Barry....).

DC Universe: Rebirth

This also caused some controversy, and fans were somewhat upset at losing decades of DC history, and with DC Universe: Rebirth, it seems that a lot of that old history is still out there, just waiting to be rediscovered, both by the characters of the modern DC Universe and by new readers alike.


That is the lesson I choose to take out of the new direction for the characters of DC, and as for what we will see and how things will develop, only time will tell how that race is run.   It is hard, but to win the race, you also have to start it, and this start looks promising!  Still, as with all things, the clock is ticking....and you have to wonder when time will run out.

Quite a few metaphors in that last paragraph, aren't there?  But, it's true.  Stories, like characters, keep coming back, so long as readers want to read about them, and that's what keeps the race eternal....and moving forward, not unlike how Barry Allen ran into himself, when he was dying in the Crisis on Infinite Earths and becoming the lightning bolt that started his journey by striking himself in the police lab (an idea added to Barry Allen's origin in Secret Origins Annual #2 in 1988 in a story about Barry Allen's life by Robert Loren Fleming, Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson, and an idea that later Flash writers like Mark Waid and Geoff Johns have put to use....).

Just don't be in such a hurry to get to the future, that you forget the past...perhaps, this was the lesson of the New 52, which led to a Rebirth!  The fact is, heroes are there to deal with a Crisis, with the only time the Crisis will end is when we stop reading about them...

....a fact as true now, as it was in the Silver Age, as shown on this classic cover by Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella from Flash #163 (August, 1966).