Posted in: Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: absolute, Absolute Green Lantern, adam strange, Agent Zero, al ewing, Chade The Changing Man, Emily HAwke, spectre

Absolute Debuts & Mashups In Absolute Green Lantern #13 (Spoilers)

Absolute Universe Debuts and Mashups in today's Absolute Green Lantern #13 by Al Ewing and Eleonara Carlini (Spoilers)

Over the weekend, I looked at the preview to today's Absolute Green Lantern #13 by Al Ewing and Eleonara Carlini as it topped the most anticipated comics of the week list on Bleeding Cool, as it suggested some kind of mash-up between two classic DC charactrers for the Absolute Universe, set on the Planet Rann, classically, the planet that Adam Strange of Earth keeps getting teleported to, created by Julius Schwartz, Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky for Showcase #17 in 1958, then his own series, in the fashion of Princess of Mars. And with a Blackstar Overseer, a Commander no less, but called Shade. Which brings to mind Rae Shade, or Shade The Changing Man, created by Steve Ditko in his own series in 1977. A secret agent from the Meta-Zone dimension, framed for treason, sentenced to death, and running around Earth in an attempt to clear his name, fighting the Meta-authorities… well, it looks like I was on the money.

First, we have Sardath, also created by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky, who also first appeared in Showcase #17 alongside Adam Strange and Sardath's daughter Alanna…

…and here, like there, is the creator of the Zeta Beam that brought Adam Strange to Rann.

So this is an Absolute Adam Strange story then? Not so fast…

.,. I recognise those circular patterns and the warping of space. And so do you. Because this is not just Shade The Changing Man as created by Ditko…

… but also the version recreated by Peter Milligan and Chris Bacholo for DC/Vertigo comic books.

Wearing the M-Vest with all those loops and hoops spreading out and changing reality…

Just given a more military, even fascist aspect courtesy of the Absolute Blackstars. But there's more to come. The M-Vest from Shade The Changing Man that allows the user to enter the dimension of madness and change reality…

Has now been replicated and militarised by the Blackstars. And Overseer Commander Shade?

It is indeed Rac Shade, the Absolute Shade The Changing Man. No longer a poet, no longer an explorer, no longer a traveller on the run, but a military leader. That's what the influence of Darkseid's Absolute Universe has had on him.

The Zeta Beam may have been a peaceful communication device between planets. But it too can be militarised. And so, yes, what about his daughter Alanna?

Absolute Anna also makes her debut, captured and transformed by the Black Stars and Shade. But where has that Zeta Beam been pointing?

And given that the planet Rann is no longer on Alpha Centauri but many more light-years away from Earth? Might there have been more of a delay than four years?

Yes, folks, we have an Absolute Universe debut for a brand new character, albeit in one based on previous characters… and she has the same language issue that classic Adam Strange had. Until Alanna intervened, then as now…

Emily Hawke, of the World War II Office of Strategic Services American intelligence agency. There is no classic DC Emily Hawke or Agent Zero, though Baron Blitzkrieg is a classic DC German Nazi enemy of the Blackhawks… is this the Absolute Universe version of Blackhawk? The Will Eisner-created wartime character who first appeared in Military Comics #1 in 1941, just as the US was entering World War II? It's not any of the Lady Blackhawks who followed either, not Zinda Blake and Natalie Reed… although there is a little of Marvel's Elsa Bloodstone about her. DC's female Agent Zeros include Otto Netz, the creator of the DC intelligence agency Spyral and father of later Agent Zeri Katrina Netz of Spyral, also the original Batwoman…

But you know what? There is an Agent Zero from Marvel's World War II comics who first appeared in Young Allies Comics #1 in 1941. A British spy who flees to the United States carrying a vital secret code that the Red Skull wants to obtain. And then revealed as a woman.

Will she be somehow both Blackhawk and Adam Strange? And given that Anna became Adam Strange's wife, will we have an Absolute Universe version of that relationship as well? Absolute Green Lantern #13 by Al Ewing and Eleonara Carlini is published by DC Comics today.

Absolute Green Lantern #13 by Al Ewing and Eleonara Carlini
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