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So in the midst of all this madness, let's take a moment to talk about a more entertaining sort of madness. Let's talk about last Tuesday's DCeased: Dead Planet by Tom Taylor and Trevor Hairsine.
Full spoilers ahead but I'm gonna ramble for a bit first so go read it maybe.
Full spoilers ahead but I'm gonna ramble for a bit first so go read it maybe.
Part of the quintessential appeal of the Alternate Universe story, stretching all the way back to the Silver Age "Imaginary Stories" that Alan Moore eulogized in Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow, lies in the idea of destruction. Not necessarily of characters, but...
... of the status quo itself, of the natural order of things in mainstream superhero shared universes. Things happen in AU's that could never happen in the main stories, and if they did, odds are they'd eventually be reversed not long afterwards.
For a lot of AUs...
For a lot of AUs...
... that eventually translates into killing the absolute fuck out of characters considered untouchable. Marvel's What If...? series, for instance, is infamous for its insane bodycount. After all, what does it matter if Spider-Man bites the dust in an imaginary one-shot?
DC's approach to AU's, codified in its Elseworlds label, usually preferred to place its characters in odd and unexpected settings, but DCeased is most definitely on the side of slaughter.
However, DCeased is also written by Tom Taylor. And that's where things get interesting.
However, DCeased is also written by Tom Taylor. And that's where things get interesting.
Taylor spent years writing another blood-soaked Elseworlds in the Injustice comics, and early on he understood the truth about AU's: that the destruction that is their lifeblood isn't relegated just to fictional lives, but also to the fictional order that is built around them.
Of course, Taylor couldn't play too hard with this universe. At the end of the day he was more or less housekeeping for Netherrealm. But that didn't stop him and his team from crafting a bunch of pretty damn memorable moments. But just as importantly, Taylor understood...
... the single, most unique thing about Injustice as an Elseworlds: that while most AU's are single issue stories or miniseries, he had a monthly ongoing to work with. Which meant that not only could he write all these weird, status quo breaking moments, but also deal with...
... their effects, their ramifications, their fallout, albeit all within the sphere of the game's influences. And considering he wrote an entire issue basically talking shit about its premise and treatment of Superman, the sphere was obviously not too tight.
Which leads us to DCeased, a far more liberated space for Taylor thanks to not being tied to someone else's canon. A place where he can indulge in the destructive but also the transformative essence of AUs, mixing and matching and playing with ideas that can be teased...
... but never fully realized in the main universe (which I imagine is a big reason why these AUs are so popular). In DCeased, Taylor is free to make Damian Batman, turn Black Canary into a Green Lantern, give Cassandra Cain her Batgirl costume back, etc.
And because this is a...
And because this is a...
... longform work that isn't restricted to a one-shot, he's also able to keep playing with those toys a while longer even as he creates new ones. Which is how Cassandra made the jump from the Unkillables spinoff to the Dead Planet miniseries...
... and now how we got Cazzaam.
Or Shazain.
Or Casstain Batvel.
Or... you get the point.
Or Shazain.
Or Casstain Batvel.
Or... you get the point.
I hope I don't need to tell you how utterly fucking nuts this is. Shit is bananas, bonkers, bizarre and the most badass shit I've seen in a DCeased book since Cass' mother ripped her own heart out. It's Taylor taking the concept of the AU for all it is worth, tearing two...
... different sides of the same universe (Batman and the Marvel Family) to pieces and then bringing those pieces together.
And the weirdest thing is that it's not even the first time he's done it with these particular pieces.
And the weirdest thing is that it's not even the first time he's done it with these particular pieces.
Lest we forget, DCeased: Unkillables ended with a Mary Marvel trained by Cassandra and Lady Shiva. It's almost like Taylor took a look back at this and wondered, well, what can the Marvel family give back to Cass in return?
Turns out, quite a fucking lot.
Turns out, quite a fucking lot.
Of course, it wouldn't be me if I didn't find something to gripe about, and in this case it's that ridiculously spectacular as the moment may be, it also feels a little shallow. There's very little exploration of how Cass feels suddenly wielding that much magical power...
... and her fight is limited to a double spread and one panel, after which she just hovers around in the background. It feels like a character leveling up in the middle of a fight or gaining some new power and then returning to whatever they were doing.
It's all very utilitarian, like how Shazam's staff can only work with the pure of heart, so Cass is able to wield it. Problem, meet solution. But there's no exploration (in this issue at least) of the real significance of that. The idea that, for all her guilt, for all her...
... doubts and self-loathing, for all the ugly things she's had to do, Cass is still genuinely pure of heart is barely even hinted at. And sure, you could argue that it's not necessary for people who are familiar with her history, but by that same coin, so are the...
... sparse, extremely matter-of-fact narrative captions that follow her transformation.
(also, and this is nitpicky even for me, I don't like the "but" in "but after", since it seems to imply some incoming contradiction that never really comes)
(also, and this is nitpicky even for me, I don't like the "but" in "but after", since it seems to imply some incoming contradiction that never really comes)
Likewise, and tying back to the idea of exploring the consequences of breaking the status quo, there is no further exploration of Cass' new powers. Nobody mentions it or even reacts to it. The very next panel after stomping Freddy is dedicated to Rose and Jason being all tragic.
Of course, there's a very good reason for that: it happened on page 21 of a 25 page floppy that was already fit to burst with stuff happening everywhere. I'm fairly confident we'll get some kind of reaction to it next month, especially with Mary still around. And at any rate...
... it was still a better showing from Cass than the *other* AU she showed up in -- on the very same day no less.
So anyway, here's to Cassandra "Captain Marvel Jr" Cain.
We don't know how long she'll last what with Trigon coming to destroy the world, but we can be fairly certain that somewhere there is a mother looking down (or more likely up) at her... and saying:
We don't know how long she'll last what with Trigon coming to destroy the world, but we can be fairly certain that somewhere there is a mother looking down (or more likely up) at her... and saying:
