It really makes me feel old that this came out almost 35 ago. I thought it came out in 1987 but I guess it was technically early 1988, but whatever. I loved this event and still do---even though it's one of DC's lamest events. So you may wonder, if it's not that good why do I love it? I'm so glad you asked.
This event had a pretty big build up since the hook was that every on going comic was going to reveal that a supporting cast member was, in fact, a Manhunter in disguise. I'll come back to that, but first let me explain the story.
Manhunters preceded the Green Lantern Corps but were banished after betraying the Gaurdians of the Universe. They hid until some event which would make them act again and employed sleeper agents on Earth to watch the Heroes and learn all about them. So what was that finally caused them to act? Long story short, A guardian and a Zamoran show up on Earth announcing they are selecting ten people on Earth to advance the human race. The heroes have to protect these ten while they are prepared for this, at the same as sleeper agents attack to distract them. The sleeper agents could be anyone including those closest and most trusted by the heroes. And yeah, that's the story. As the Gaurdians train these ten people the rest of the heroes are either protecting them or fighting the Manhunter agents.
Another hook for the event was that this was one of the first series to ever come out weekly rather than monthly. Course this would start happening more with stuff like Action Comics Weekly and later 52 and Countdown. This was the first, or one of the first. I think the idea was, don't just grab Millennium grab the books that tie into it also since they're right there. Heck the tie-in's had a banner telling people NOT to read the story until they read Millennium first. Not a bad angle when the comics were coming out, but months even years later? What are you supposed to do if you don't have all the tie-in's?
The event a had so much potential, but it made several missteps. Here are some of them.
Superman-For whatever reason Superman gets sidelined by his own tie in activity and is missing for most of the first half of the series. In the second half his really cool stuff is relegated to tie-in's. So aside from a speech in Issue #1 and getting the final words in the end, he doesn't do very much.
The Tie-in's- As I noted the tie-in's were very closely tied to the main story, so much so that important plot events happen in the tie-in's making the main mini series a bore. Not impossible to understand, everything is recapped, but slow for sure
Issue #1 is great, sets up the premise and gets our heroes together. It ends with Manhunters revealing themselves to some heroes but Issue 2 the cliffhangers were resolved in tie-ins. Issue two same thing, as the chosen are revealed. Issue 3 about the heroes getting the chosen safely and at the end of the issue we hear one of The Chosen has vanished, and he's back at the top of the next issue -read the GL tie in. Issue 4 as the chosen get to know each other the issue sets up a four-way crossover between Batman, Captain Atom, Suicide Squad and The Spectre. At the end they charge into the swamp to destroy the Manhunter temple.... which happens in those tie-in's. Granted those issues are great but if you just read the mini the temple is just destroyed off panel. Issue 5 while the Gaurdians and Zamorans ramble to the Chosen all the issue does is re-cap the previous tie-in's while setting up the next week's. The space battle they discuss is completely not in the mini series, so when we see the Highmaster in issue 6 we don't know who he is and then he's just defeated in yet another tie in before issue #7. In issue 6 nothing happens really as the chosen meditate or something. Issue 7 is the end of the manhunter arc. At least the final fight is in the main series. Though the cliffhanger ending leading to the tie-in's is lame, which involve the Chosen getting one last chance to enjoy themselves before they are changed, you can skip that last page and just go to Issue #8.
And to be fair not all the tie-in's are must reads. You can skip the second Blue Beetle one and miss nothing not to mention the Young All-stars, Legion, or the lame "Secret Origins" issues. Flash’s second tie in and Wonder woman’s two issues barely count and the Week 8 tie ins don’t count at all IMHO. The story was over! And why they didn’t include a single tie in when they made the trade eludes me.
The "Chosen"-The whole idea behind this premise is kind of flawed. The Chosen are supposed to be the next step in human evolution, and yet it's never really explained why. Even in the spin-off book "The New Gaurdians" they don't seem to understand what their mission is. And while they tried to give us a chance to get to know these characters, it wasn't really enough. In fact, the scenes with the chosen after issue #3 are straight up boring. In issue #6 we just see them prancing around. Florenic Man gets a chane of heart and refuses to betray the heroes, and that's it. And some of the choices are ludicrous including a white supremacist from South Africa and as I mentioned the Floronic Man. Harbinger is captured in the miniseries, but her rescue is in yet another tie in. And two of the Chosen don’t survive at all for no real reason.
The Sleeper Agents-
It was a great set up, that a hero would be betrayed by someone they cared the most about or trusted the most. Obviously as this event was approaching creators were told they needed to give up a character to be a Manhunter in disguise. And most creators opted to cop out on the premise, hurting the story to be honest. Not that I blame them if I was told I'd need to lose a character for a company wide crossover I'd find a workaround too. Yes I’ll say it this is similar to Marvels Skulls which is a lot better.
Superman-It turns out Lana Lang, and the whole town of Smallville, were mind controlled to obey the Manhunters. I get that watching Superman would be challenging and Lana is a good choice but this a bit much, especially when we hadn't really gotten to know the town post Crisis yet. And of course it was mind control.
Batman-James Gordon was replaced with a Manhunter robot, losing any real impact this was supposed to have. However I have more to say about Batman coming.
JLI-Another cop out as the Manhunter is Rocket Red #7, a character just introduced who we barely knew and was easily replaceable. Which they did. He has a line about how he has studied the team for months, and I'm always like "when??"
Booster Gold-Since the series was ending they were able to do what the story was asking them to do, and Booster was betrayed by a recurring character who was not a fake or anything. Dirk Davis was Booster's manager and this one worked. By the way Booster Gold would side with the Manhunters but totally doesn’t in the end when Gold betrays then to save the day. Badly handled!
Captain Atom-I didn't read this book but the agent was at least a character we'd known before. Captain Hadley was fine but his being a Manhunter meant nothing in the end.
Blue Beetle-One that even I groaned about. Beetle's Manhunter was a one shot villain named Overthrow who had zero connection to the Beetle at all. It was beyond pointless. Worst part is the book was ending so they could have made it someone better!
Legion of Superheroes-Post Crisis Laurel Kent needed a new origin, so making her a Manhunter made sense
Infinity-Marcie Cooper had been around and her becoming Harlequin was fine. Since this book had ties to the golden age it's a nice a nod to the previous Manhunter characters.
Suicide Squad-Karen Grace was fine, and I was happy to see them remember the old Justice League of America issues where Manhunters were firmly established and included the character from there, Mark Shaw who would get his own manhunter book.
The Outsiders-Since the book was ending, they were able to go for the throat, and Dr.Jace was the agent. She was around since day one and was a scientist, so this is one of the few that worked. This is also one of the few superhero deaths in the event when Metamorpho is killed. He'd be back a year later. The second tie in was also the final issue so team actually fell apart making it The Manhunters one significant victory of the story.
The Flash-Another one that worked, almost, is Wally West's dad turning out to the an agent. Hoevver unlike Dr.Grace we didn't really know him. Give credit to the creators though didn’t forget it happened later this became a major part of the book for a few years, with Wally’s dad finally atoning in “Invasion”.
Wonder Woman-They took the Jim Gordon approach and made Pan a robot duplicate. Only this time the original was killed (in the Batman book they explain an assassination attempt on Gordon failed). These Manhunters can kill a Greek God? I give credit that they did tie it into the story arc in her book and it was one of the few manhunters stopped IN THE MAIN MINI SERIES.
Green Lantern-The character who was clearly a villain...Turns out to be a villain! Yawn. How did the creator of the event miss the whole point?
Firestorm-Same deal, the jerk character is a villain? Oh no! Truth was the status quo on the book changed and they didn't need Chief Ferguson anymore, so this was an easy choice that didn't hurt the book at all. Had no impact either. Firestorm is tricked into joining the Manhunters in his tie-in, which is undone in another tie-in, and save for one reference you'd never know it happened in the main series.
Nancy Reagan-Oh give me a freaking break (it wasn't even followed up on)
The Artwork-Guessing these issues were rushed like crazy because the art really fails. Especially the later issues.
So you may be wondering, didn't I say I loved this series? Well I do and here is why despite it's obvious flaws I love it anyway.
Batman-Ok lame cop out Manhunter agent aside, Batman is awesome in this story. He basically is the star of the first few issues before helping to destroy the temple. His speech in issue #7 is one of my favorite Batman speeches ever.
The Heroes Together-The story is like a love letter to me about my favorute time in comics. This is when I was reading comics big time and seeing these characters together at this point when I loved them all still brings me pains of nostalgia. And unlike some events that only include heroes with current ongoing titles, this one remembers a few that did not at the time like Green Arrow, Dr.Fate, Aquaman and Hawkman. In fact issue 8 gives us cameos of even more! And it is nice to see some character interactions unlike other events where it goes from plot point to plot point without giving us a chance to appreciate these character are together. One major gripe however, at the time the Teen Titans were doing a thing called hard cover/soft cover where there issues were printed in pretty fancy (expensive) paper, and then reprinted a year later in standard newsprint. Because of this there was concern that readers would be confused when the stories were reprinted (which they never wound have been btw) so none of the Titans appear in the mini series. Flash tries to stand in for them and Terra does get a mention, and Aqualad & Starfire gets a tie in, but that's it. but I guess it would have been weird to do the whole "traitor on the team" stuff again.
The Tie-In's-Yeah I know, after I talked about how annoying they were. Ok so let's say you don't mind reading 35 comics to get the whole story. Then it really does make it a good story. The tie-in's are really good even doing crossovers with each other. I mentioned the four big one's but we also get JLI and Firestorm crossing over, and a cool Green Lantern/Superman team up. They did a great job coordinating with other creators so the story links together really smoothly. One or two hiccups aside, the story flows very well. For instance we learn Floronic Man is chosen at the end of issue 2. The Batman tie in shows him trying to get to him in Arkham but can’t. In issue 3 a manhunter agent finally breaks Floronic Man out and it’s in the infinity inc tie in where the manhunter is stopped and Floronic man finally safely brought to the others which is how issue 4 starts. I think you can see how most of the tie ins work from that. The exciting stuff is saved for then while the main book is just plot setup.
An Event-It really does feel like an event that affects the entire DC universe. At the end of the day, it didn't, but that doesn't mean they didn't try. In the final issue there were cameos from other random characters to show just how big a deal this was supposed to be. In the end it was mostly forgotten except for the pages of Superman and Flash, and of course The New Gaurdians barely lasted 12 issues.
The Writing-Steve Englehart wrote this, and the writing isn't that bad. The characters feel in character and he also touches on his personal belief in things such as politics and even philosophy. He was hoping to expand on these things even more in "The New Gaurdians" but the story of DC getting cold feet on that is a subject for another day. He was quite a writer with incredible runs on Detective Comics, Green Lantern and JLA to name a few.
Issue #8 is basically just formally introducing The Chosen with our heroes basically just standing around and watching. Actually that's another problem with the story, lots of time with our heroes just hanging around. Yeah I send it’s nice to get character moments but some of them just literally hang around waiting for something to do: The chosen get their powers and they are all ready to proceed with their mission, which no one understands. The final team consists of:
Betty Clawman - A Disembodied force
Extraño - One of the first openly gay characters in a comic. Which is cool, but how is he supposed to breed to create the next level of humanity or whatever?
Floronic Man - A plant villain.
Gloss - A chinese woman with cool mystical powers
Harbinger - From Crisis on Infinite Earth's and her appearance in History of the DC Universe is a plot device for the mini series
Jet - She can fly. Yay. To be fair she had the strongest personality of them all.
Ram - A Japanese man who can access any computer instantly. Because that doesn't sound stereotypical at all.
And Tom Kalmaku who was a former Green Lantern supporting characters. He didn't take his powers because he decided to be with his family. But was given them in a latent form so he could call it forth if he needed it. I think they were light powers IDK.
This group would spin off into The New Gaurdians, which is as I said another long story! So yeah, the event is far from perfect, but it will always have a special place in my heart.
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