Who Was Who Is Who #37

So for want of anything better to write about on a Monday, 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 2012, who might make it and who hasn't got a Reactron's chance.

PUZZLER - umm . . . who, now? Apparently an old Superman villain, "obsessed with games, tricks and puzzles" who was intent on outwitting Supes. Yeah, don't think we'll be seeing him.

QUAKEMASTER - pretty sure this is one Batman villain that we won't be seeing again.

QUEEN BEE - there's been a couple of versions of the Queen Bee: the original alien seductress and her modern-day JLA version along with the Queen of Bialya who caused trouble for the Justice League way back when it was funny. Will we see either in the New 52? I don't think so.

Global Guardians #4 - Breakdowns

For the next few weeks, I'm going to be running through the DCU appearances of the Global Guardians post-Crisis, pre-Flashpoint (or at least all the appearances I have) and wonder why they never had a title of their own and find out where they are now. Or were, pre-Flashpoint.

Last week saw the establishment of the Justice League Europe and their initial battle against the Global Guardians as controlled by the Queen Bee who was putting them forward to the world as the new heroes of Bialya.

This week we skip forward some months (story time) to the start of the last  storyline of the Giffen/DeMatteis era, Breakdowns. This was a sixteen part crossover between Justice League America and ...Europe where a number of big battles changed the make-up of both versions of the League.

And the Global Guardians were right at the start of it.

Global Guardians #3 - Our European Cousins

For the next few weeks, I'm going to be running through the DCU appearances of the Global Guardians post-Crisis, pre-Flashpoint (or at least all the appearances I have) and wonder why they never had a title of their own and find out where they are now. Or were, pre-Flashpoint.

After the events shown in last week's instalment, Jack O'Lantern and Owlwoman are seen safely ensconced as part of the Queen Bee's retinue following her usurping of the Bialyan throne. The Justice League, helpless in the face of her overwhelming support from the Bialyan people, leave with their tail between their legs.

Not long after that, Invasion! takes place where various alien races band together with the Dominators to try and take over the Earth. At the end of that, a decision's made to increase the scope of the League's activities and Justice League Europe is created, based in Paris which, you may remember, also houses the Dome, home of the Global Guardians.

Global Guardians #2 - Moving On

For the next few weeks, I'm going to be running through the DCU appearances of the Global Guardians post-Crisis, pre-Flashpoint (or at least all the appearances I have) and wonder why they never had a title of their own and where they are now.

Following the events of Legends, the Justice League was revitalised (to say the least) and from its beginnings as simply a new version of the JLA, was transformed into a United Nations sponsored world-wide group of superheroes with embassies in most major countries.

Thing is, there was already a group with the same mandate, one which had a more international membership than the fledgling JLA/I. Sure, the League had a more interplanetary membership (with J'onn J'onzz and Mr Miracle) but the Global Guardians were already in place and as we saw last week, represented more of the globe than the League.

Still, politics being what they are, with the UN sanctioning the League, there was no need for the Guardians.

Justice League International #9 featured the first of several back-up appearances of the Guardians as they dealt with the closure of the Dome and while some, such as Belphegor and Dr Mist were quite philosophical about the affair, the Irish hero Jack O'Lantern was definitely not.