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xyzzysqrlI got a DC Universe subscription solely to watch Doom Patrol, but I've been enjoying other perks of having the service as well. For one, there's a big ol' archive of DC books, and I zooped right past the Superman/Batman team-ups and popular, widely known crossover events to read THE WANDERERS.
So there was one reason I was here for the Wanderers, an obscure spin-off book about an even more obscure side-group that appeared a couple times in the 31st-century book "The Legion of Super Heroes": because I wanted to see a dude have sex with a dinosaur, but in context.
That's actually one of the most -reasonable and measured- things that comes out of this book.
For starters I say it's about an obscure Legion side-group but I kind of lie, because when we meet them they are all dead. A few panels later, they're cloned into new bodies and promptly start exploring their changed-up superpowers and picking new names for themselves, because they should get to decide who the new version of themselves are.
Also cloning is super illegal, and so is BEING a clone, so they're on the run from the police basically instantly. Fuck the police.
So this book has a very strong transhumanist bent, in that charmingly sci-fi of the eighties way. Once our band of wanderers solve their own murder and figure out what happened there, they become United Planets agents and go around on missions, although that's often just an excuse to bring them into conflict with local religions or the like. The Wanderers are an opinionated team and rarely does an issue go by without some question about how life or the soul or humanity 'works' raised and tackled by the group.
Let's have a team role call.
Celebrand - Leader of the old Wanderers. Dead, but often mentioned.
Clonus - The alien who cloned the Wanderers into their new form. Briefly a mentor, then dies for drama, but is uploaded to the ship's computer so he can act as a holographic advice floatyhead.
Re-Animage - Literally immortal, cannot be perma-killed unless reduced to nothing. Can also bring others back from the dead if he gets to them fast enough. I feel like Re-Animage stole everyone else's character build points.
Quantum Queen - If Re-Animage didn't steal them all, Quantum Queen did. She can "manipulate all forms of light and energy", so she can effectively teleport, disguise herself by changing her reflections, shoot beams, release an "ultra-violet ghost" from her body to do things independently of herself, split into multiple figures, etc. Quantum Queen is OP as fuck and has made me re-evaluate the powers of being pure light.
Psyche - Is psychic. Feeds off other people's emotions. Has that Betazoid thing where she can Just Feel a situation. Can bomb people with emotional overload. Love is the deadliest force in the universe.
Dartalon - Looks like a cross between Blanka and a Sonic fan character, is basically a Spines/Regen scrapper. Can shoot little darts from his body and has claws, or 'talons'. What do you want from the eighties okay?
Aviax - Can shapeshift into any kind of bird he can imagine, whether it exists or not. Also has hollow bones and can be broken like a pencil.
Elvar - Has pointy ears and a sword and an attitude like Davy Jones from the Monkees.
So you can see there's a SCALE of how useful each character is on any given mission, and that's probably why Aviax's one and only major outing on his own is "go fuck a dinosaur, kid".
In the end, after 13 issues, the Wanderers literally fly their ship through a hole in space and right out of the DC Universe entirely. Other teams have used the name since, but these guys have been spared the indignities of further retconning and rewriting. They arrived, had some adventures, raised interesting transhumanist questions, and stepped off-stage again.
... I can't really think of a better fate for them. I feel like more than their weird, mysterious, goofy and thought-provoking original book would start to ruin them.
So there was one reason I was here for the Wanderers, an obscure spin-off book about an even more obscure side-group that appeared a couple times in the 31st-century book "The Legion of Super Heroes": because I wanted to see a dude have sex with a dinosaur, but in context.
That's actually one of the most -reasonable and measured- things that comes out of this book.
For starters I say it's about an obscure Legion side-group but I kind of lie, because when we meet them they are all dead. A few panels later, they're cloned into new bodies and promptly start exploring their changed-up superpowers and picking new names for themselves, because they should get to decide who the new version of themselves are.
Also cloning is super illegal, and so is BEING a clone, so they're on the run from the police basically instantly. Fuck the police.
So this book has a very strong transhumanist bent, in that charmingly sci-fi of the eighties way. Once our band of wanderers solve their own murder and figure out what happened there, they become United Planets agents and go around on missions, although that's often just an excuse to bring them into conflict with local religions or the like. The Wanderers are an opinionated team and rarely does an issue go by without some question about how life or the soul or humanity 'works' raised and tackled by the group.
Let's have a team role call.
Celebrand - Leader of the old Wanderers. Dead, but often mentioned.
Clonus - The alien who cloned the Wanderers into their new form. Briefly a mentor, then dies for drama, but is uploaded to the ship's computer so he can act as a holographic advice floatyhead.
Re-Animage - Literally immortal, cannot be perma-killed unless reduced to nothing. Can also bring others back from the dead if he gets to them fast enough. I feel like Re-Animage stole everyone else's character build points.
Quantum Queen - If Re-Animage didn't steal them all, Quantum Queen did. She can "manipulate all forms of light and energy", so she can effectively teleport, disguise herself by changing her reflections, shoot beams, release an "ultra-violet ghost" from her body to do things independently of herself, split into multiple figures, etc. Quantum Queen is OP as fuck and has made me re-evaluate the powers of being pure light.
Psyche - Is psychic. Feeds off other people's emotions. Has that Betazoid thing where she can Just Feel a situation. Can bomb people with emotional overload. Love is the deadliest force in the universe.
Dartalon - Looks like a cross between Blanka and a Sonic fan character, is basically a Spines/Regen scrapper. Can shoot little darts from his body and has claws, or 'talons'. What do you want from the eighties okay?
Aviax - Can shapeshift into any kind of bird he can imagine, whether it exists or not. Also has hollow bones and can be broken like a pencil.
Elvar - Has pointy ears and a sword and an attitude like Davy Jones from the Monkees.
So you can see there's a SCALE of how useful each character is on any given mission, and that's probably why Aviax's one and only major outing on his own is "go fuck a dinosaur, kid".
In the end, after 13 issues, the Wanderers literally fly their ship through a hole in space and right out of the DC Universe entirely. Other teams have used the name since, but these guys have been spared the indignities of further retconning and rewriting. They arrived, had some adventures, raised interesting transhumanist questions, and stepped off-stage again.
... I can't really think of a better fate for them. I feel like more than their weird, mysterious, goofy and thought-provoking original book would start to ruin them.
no subject
Date: 2019-05-28 05:54 pm (UTC)I should probably get a DC Universe sub...
no subject
Date: 2019-05-28 06:12 pm (UTC)...
Of course I say that not having read their Legion appearances.
I should deep-dive the LOSH sometime, huh...