Happy New Year, World of Wonder! Crisis on Infinite Clubs continues as we read the one-shots featuring Green Lantern, Shazam, and Lex Luthor and parts 6-8 of The Darkseid War.
Justice League: The Darkseid WarClick Images for Links
Justice League (2011-) #46-48Click Images for Links
SPOILER Discussion Begins Now
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Which one-shot was your favorite?
Grail’s separated the Anti-Monitor from the Anti-Life Equation.
What could Grail want with Steve Trevor?
How do you feel about Mobius’s personality and appearance in his new form?
Could working with the Crime Syndicate be a good thing, or is it bound to end badly?
What was your favorite moment(s) from these issues?
Share your thoughts on the reading overall and let’s discuss
I’m looking forward to getting down to business and reading some one shots tonight! I’ve read Darkseid War a couple of times before now, but this has been the first time that I have read any of the one shots and I’m pretty excited about it.
Oh yay! I didn’t know it was your first time reading the one-shots. That’s probably such a cool experience getting to revisit Darkseid War with new content. I’m not sure if you’ve read this before, but it’s a backstory on Grail and Myrina. We read it during the first batch of the Darkseid War comics.
OOO that was cool. I have read all of that content before, but I had never read it put together as that “Sneak Peek” publication before. I like it. And yes! It really has been a great experience to be reading Darkseid War again with new content!
I hadn’t ever read it on DCU before. I read it in print as a collected edition book once and I own all the issues in the New 52 Justice League run on Comixology, but somehow I had never even realized that there were one-shots done for the story as well. Don’t know how that information managed to illude me for so long lol, but hey! that’s ok because it’s been awesome to get to read them now.
Yeah, I hadn’t read it on DCU either. I only looked through it a bit for fan fiction I was writing. I have a lot on my Comixology and had some physical single copies, but lost them.
That Sneak Peek was part of Divergence. I have links to the other stories here but they’re not related to The Darkseid War from what I recall.
I thought the sneak peak added a good element of backstory to Myrina and Grail. I might have read it after the JL issues.
Question 2 feels like it’s spoiling something. I’m still going to watch it play out since, for the record, I did not read ahead.
I am particularly interested in learning more about the chair and why it was built. Also, are there any consequences the longer Metron is out of the chair?
You know, this is only speculation based upon memory so I’m really not sure how right I am here, but I don’t think that Metron was a god before the chair. I feel like I remember reading some back story on Metron (maybe in this same series because I’ll be honest, my memory is feeling kinda fuzzy on the details of the remainder of this story). Anyway, I feel like I remember something about him accidentally stumbling across the chair, or something like that, and that he really didn’t amount to much until he found it. Again, I could be just blowing smoke here lol, but that’s what’s been in the back of my mind concerning him.
No worries. I am still looking forward to what i learn about the anti-life equation.
The ‘don’t call me Mobius’ Anti-Monitor either built it or had it built. And no matter who’s sitting in it, it’s called The Mobius Chair.
They haven’t really named a “Monitor” or an anti-Anti-Monitor. If it is Darkseid, then it’s not so much an opposite as it is about taking out the biggest gun before taking over. And if there is no opposite, what’s with the name? it’s either some weird retcon or someone was lazy.
Same! I’m trying to think about what happens next, but can’t really remember. It’s kind of fun getting to something and being like, “Oh, yeah! I remember now.”
I think you might be right about Metron. At least it sounds right
Would you mind clarifying? There is a Monitor and he does have a name. I don’t remember if you participated in the book club where they covered the Crisis on Infinite Earths event, but he’s shown up when we read Wonder Woman (1942)
Wow, they were all really good and with this being my first time reading the one-shots I really enjoyed every one of them.
I do have to wonder why they didn’t do a Wonder Woman one-shot with her being such a big character? I’m guessing that they left her out just being she’s already being highlighted so much in the main storyline as the primary narrator, but I still think that I would’ve enjoyed a one-shot showing how Wonder Woman was dealing with everything on a more personal level.
I really liked the Shazam one-shot a lot. I don’t feel like Captain Marvel got a lot of spotlight during the main storyline, so it was really enlightening to read his one-shot and see exactly what’s going on with him.
I think that my favorite one-shot though was the Green Lantern one. I really loved how Hal forced himself to do the right thing even after having the power of a god within his command. I guess someone who’s been host to both Parallax and the Spector in the past knows a thing or two about not messing around with immense power lol. The irony of Hal Jordan being the responsible one while Bruce Wayne is busy falling off the deep end is pretty fun too. I think my favorite part of the GL one-shot has got to be the “ping” lines. I like how Hal responds to Mother Box by simply saying, “ping” instead of, “yes” lol.
Spoiler Alert (I’ll blur it out though, no worries )
Ok, if I remember correctly here, Grail is planning on using Steve Trevor to complete a spell? It’s all quite nefarious and definitely not good news for Steve, that’s for sure. I won’t speculate on that one anymore though, because I don’t wanna give things away.
You can definitely see resemblances between Mobius’s appearance now and his appearance when in the form of the Anti-Monitor. His armor is very similar in shape and design and even his face bears some resemblance to that of his form as the Anti-Monitor.
Personally, I think that Mobius’s appearance is very well done. There is enough resemblance to the Anti-Monitor to remind you that you are dealing with essentially the same being; but at the same time, there is enough difference between the two forms to remind us that Mobius is definitely a different beast in many ways and must be dealt with as such.
Since the influence of the anti-life equation has been removed, we see a shift in Mobius’s personality. Additionally, his dialog suggests that he wants people to take note of this change. He’s no longer a huge, impersonal character who devours entire worlds for their energy. Now that he has returned to his form as Mobius, we are able to see him on a more “personal” level (which is certainly more frightening). He lets us know that he is much happier now that he can kill people individually and look his victims in the eye. He is a killer who prefers to commit these crimes of a more “intimate” nature, and now he is able to accomplish this.
@AntLeon I was a little confused by this question/comment as well. If you are asking who the Monitor is, @nu52 is correct, there is a Monitor who is an “opposite” being of the Anti-Monitor. The Crisis on Infinite Earths event is a great read and provides an in-depth background for the Monitor and the Anti-Monitor. It’s not exactly a quick read though, so if you’re looking for some more insight into these characters without having to read the whole Crisis event, you can also check them out in the encyclopedia. It gives a pretty good overview of both characters: The Monitor The Anti-Monitor
Oh, and thanks for the info about the Mobius Chair @AntLeon! That was helpful.
Yeah, what you said about her being the primary narrator is probably why she didn’t get one. Also, she didn’t become a god because of Darkseid’s death like the ones that got one-shots (Cyborg didn’t get a one-shot either). You could essentially read The Darkseid War without the one-shots just like you did before, but if you make a Wonder Woman one-shot, at that point she is too important as the main narrator that it would just be better to have it as another part of the main story, IMO.
I liked that too. I wasn’t a huge fan of him at the time this story came out, but I like him a lot more since his movie and I also started watching his TV show that’s on this service. It was interesting getting a piece of backstory on Darkseid as well. Seeing Darkseid’s father was something I wasn’t expecting from the Shazam one-shot.
I know! I always hear about how Batman would be a better GL and stuff, but Hal proved why he’s a great GL. He and the rest of the Lanterns showed major willpower in that fight against the parademons.
That part was creepy. It also seems like this is the version of Mobius the CW modeled their’s after. It’s neat getting to see parts of this arc actually canonized in other media.
As far as i can recall, we have yet to meet a Monitor, or an Anti-Mobius, with respect to the Darkseid War. I did read the Wolfman-Perez CoIE and that Monitor was rather self-evident.
Since i had yet to meet a Darkseid War Monitor, which i might have missed since i tend to read kind of fast, I thought it weird to use the name Anti-Monitor.
Gotcha! You’re right, we haven’t met him in The Darkseid War. I get where you’re coming from. I never thought of it like that. I suppose you can see him as a counter to Metron in this particular story as Metron “monitors” and has/had Mobius’s chair. It might be why we get them naming/revealing him as Mobius here.
Whoa, wait a minute. This conversation just got really fascinating. I thought that the Monitor and the Anti-Monitor were characters that stayed the same throughout the cannon DC universe? Is that not the case?
Previous experience would indicate that any interaction with the crime syndicate is never going to have a nice tidy ending. Even when the members of the Syndicate are interacting with each other they are incapable of genuine intentions or even civility. They often lie to each other and do underhanded things to each other. They work together in as much capacity as is necessary to ensure that they all profit and benefit from it, but if they believed that slitting each other’s throats would benefit them more than working together, they would turn on each other in a heartbeat. So no, I don’t think that working with the Syndicate is going to turn out great. I think that it’s probably necessary to combine their forces in this situation, but it’s not going to wrap up with a pretty little bow on top at the end either.
SPOILER Discussion Begins Now
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Share your thoughts on the reading overall and let’s discuss 
Spoiler Alert (I’ll blur it out though, no worries 
) 