In the DC Universe, the phrase "Hell on Earth" is not thrown around lightly. Why? Because Hell is a real place in the DCU. And sometimes, Hell decides to come throw a party on Earth. And by "party", I mean invade and wreck stuff. In 1999, the DCU did get such an invasion, and it was not helped that one of their earliest heroes was corrupted and led the invasion. This is Day of Judgment #1!
The cover is a Matt Smith piece. It depicts a group of heroes in what looks like a plain pin-up. It's nothing special. I do like the detail of the Spectre's face being shadowed. Nice subtle bit of foreshadowing. I wish he was shown looming over the heroes. And of course, Batman is front and center because it wouldn't be a modern DC story starring a ton of heroes without having Batman all up in it.
"The Summoning"
Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciler: Matt Smith
Inker: Steve Mitchell
Colorist: James Sinclair
Letterer: Comicraft
Editor: Kevin Dooley
Executive Editor: Mike Carlin
The story begins in Hell. And naturally, since this is Hell, there's some torturing going on.
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| Hell really needs arcades. |
Meet Asmodel. First appearing in JLA #7 (July 1997), he was once one of Heaven's Army. However, he grew fed up of his position, decided to pull a Lucifer and try to conquer Heaven. This led to his battling the Justice League, and as a punishment for his actions, the Prescence (Basically the DCU's version of the Judeo-Christian God) banished him to hell in the 1998 miniseries JLA: Paradise Lost.
His torturer is a demon named Neron. First appearing in Manhunter #11 (October 1995), Neron is a fallen angel. He can be seen as a Satan analogue, and he was allied with Asmodel during the Paradise Lost affair. The demon decided to take a break from torturing the angel, saying he has other souls to buy. After all, he's not worried. Asmodel is totally not going anywhere, right?
Exactly. Asmodel is rescued by a certain famous DCU demon.
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| "There's no need to pout! I'm just hanging about!" |
You may be familiar with the Spectre, if you've read my review of the first issue of his 1992 series here. Basically, the Spectre is an angel of vengeance who was bonded to the soul of a policeman named Jim Corrigan. But that's no longer the case. He's now without a host, thanks to Jim Corrigan moving on to heaven. As such he needs another soul to bond to. A soul that is touched by the Presence. And although the Presence denies him, Asmodel is one such soul. Asmodel is suspicious about this. Demons do not help out of the kindness of their hearts, even ones who have been known to hang around with superheroes like Etrigan. Etrigan does have reasons of his own, but he wants to help. Etrigan summons the Spectre.
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| "Whaddaya want! I was watching my stories!" |
The Spectre, being a vengeful sort, angrily slices off Asmodel's wings.
There's just angel blood and feathers everywhere now. Neron is not going to be happy about this because this was the janitor's day off, and he promised to keep the place clean.
Anyway, Etrigan wanted this to happen. And contrary to what you all think, it wasn't because of raging wing envy. You see, Etrigan said Merlin (yes, the Merlin of Arthurian legend) once claimed that the ashes of an angel's wings can bind a heavenly soul to just about anything. Yup, angel wing feathers are the supernatural equivalent of Gorilla Glue. He gets proven right as Asmodel ends up bonded to the Spectre.
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| "THIS WAS A BAD IDEA! THIS HURTS SO BAD!" |
The Spectre bonded to an angry fallen angel with a raging power lust.
What's happening on Earth in the meantime, you may ask? Well, one Zatanna Zatara is finishing up a performance. A bartender named Eric asks her out on a date, but she turns him down, as she fears the dangers of his being involved with a superheroine. She senses the merging of the Spectre and Asmodel, and heads out.
We next head to New Jersey. In particular, the Ostrander Mental Institute (Heh). A sudden storm has kicked up, and it's made one of the patients go nuts. That patient is one June Moone, aka the Enchantress. The wild magic the storm is kicking up causes her to transform into her Enchantress form.
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| "With great power comes a great bod!" |
Problem is, Moone's Enchantress persona tends to get a bit...drunk on magical power and when that happens, she goes bad. It's why they called her the "Switcheroo-Witcheroo" back in the day. She busts out, only to encounter the Kyle Rayner Green Lantern. Over in Hell, the Asmodel Spectre gets in Neron's face, saying that he will get control of the place, freezing Neron. He rampages through Hell, causing it to literally freeze over.
Back on Earth, Enchantress engages Rayner in battle, her dialogue implying that she is unaware of the events of Emerald Twilight and Final Night, as she not only doesn't recognize Kyle, but she also still thinks Hal Jordan is the Green Lantern. Kyle demands to know what she's up to, but the Enchantress points out she's not the perpetrator here. She wishes she was, but she's not. The two witness Etrigan and Hell's hordes burst out of the ground. Well, I guess the office party is cancelled. A shame.
In Boston, Zatanna meets up with a rather obscure DC character: Doctor Occult.
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| "Zatanna, this had better be good. I'm busy tombstone-gazing." |
Fun fact, he was created by the same guys who created Superman: Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
She next goes to pick up Deadman in St. Louis. At the JLA Watchtower on the Moon, the Justice League girds for battle, calling in all reserves as well.
The Justice Society battle Solomon Grundy in Blue Valley. Members of the Quintessence find themselves unable to enter Earth thanks to Asmodel. Zatanna grabs Sebastian Faust (the... more heroic-leaning son of JLA villain Felix Faust) in Detroit, and Madame Xanadu in Greenwich Village. The Phantom Stranger also arrives, saying he's gathered some others as well.
The heroes try to fight the demonic invasion, but they're not doing so hot. They should call the X-Men. They've dealt with this kind of thing before.
Asmodel is confronted by the JLA's angelic member Zauriel...and he just gets his wings turned to stone. The Enchantress decides it's time to hit the ol' dusty trail, much to Kyle Rayner's fury. Alan Scott, aka the Sentinel (Yeah, at this time, DC was pushing the whole "Kyle Rayner is the Last Green Lantern" gimmick, forcing creatives to have Alan, the original GL, go by Sentinel) tells him to just let her go. Asmodel is the bigger problem right now. He also laments about letting the Spectre be released without another soul to bind him to in JLA #31.
The heroes try to take Asmodel on, but now that he has the power of the Spectre at his command, it's naturally ineffective. Asmodel does some pretty horrifying stuff to the heroes. He turns Superman into salt. Argent and Wildcat's eyes are turned into fly larva. Kyle Rayner is turned into wood. Asmodel gloats over this, saying that nothing can stop him from wrecking heaven now...until another group makes themselves known.
Zatanna. Madame Xanadu. Sebastian Faust. Alan Scott. The Phantom Stranger. Ragman. Raven of the Teen Titans. Meet the Sentinels of Magic. And they are going to make Asmodel's day a very rough one.
I enjoyed this issue. We got a big bad set up, we got some action, and Geoff Johns's love of the DCU really shines. I love Matt Smith's art bring a nice bit of moodiness to the story, especially with the usage of shadows in the Hell scenes. He also seems to be channeling his inner Mike Mignola for it. I do think it was forced to hold back on the horror a bit, but otherwise that, the art is really good.
If you want to read this comic for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2013 trade paperback Day of Judgment. Thanks for reading this blog entry!
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