History Of DCUO: Oan Sciencecells

Oa  & the ScienceCells
As far as comic book headquarters go, the Guardians of the Universe's planet Oa might be one of the best. It's not as iconic as the Batcave or the Fortress of Solitude, sure, but its still in the higher echelons. Besides, it's an entire planet that serves as the HQ for space police. That just sounds cool!


Oa first appeared in Green Lantern vol. 2 #1, August 1960, the first issue of Hal Jordan's solo title and fourth appearance overall. It was created by Silver Age DC mainstay Gardner Fox and Gil Kane. In its first appearance, it was first shown when the Guardians of the Universe call Hal Jordan to a meeting. Two things of note: This was their first appearance too, meaning Hal had zero idea about his bosses and two, he was sent there via what amounts to an "Astral Projection" using his power ring. I've always found that interesting, that the problem with planets millions of lightyears away was deftly dealt with fifty-two years ago. It was only later that the concept of transluminal speed was introduced and real life science was throw out the window.

As eventually told, the Maltusians, the species that eventually evolved into the dwarf race known as the Guardians of the Universe, came to the planet in the center of the universe that would be known as Oa following rogue Maltusian Krona's accidental creation of the Anti-Monitor, the Multiverse and maybe even the concept of "evil". The planet was a barren desert planet when they came and built their city there. In fact, their city is the only real feature of note on the entire planet.

The city's chief feature is the Central Power Battery, which first appeared in Green Lantern Vol.  2 #9, December 1961. The Central Battery serves as the reservoir for all of the Guardians willpower and as such, all Green Lantern rings draw their power from it. As Green Lantern Rebirth #3, February 2005, revealed, the Guardians sealed the Fear Entity Parallax into the Central Power Battery. This was the reason retconned for the Yellow Impurity. But we'll talk about that some other time.

Another important feature is the Book of Oa. The book first appeared in Green Lantern vol. 2 #188, May 1985 and was created by no less than Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. It appeared in the backup story "Mogo Doesn't Socialize", as a Guardian of the Universes tells a young Lantern named Arisia a Tale of the Green Lantern Corps about one of the big (but not biggest or even bigger) Lanterns named Mogo. Following the reconstruction of Oa (More on that in a sec), the Book was restored as well. In following runs, the Book was elaborated on, especially by Geoff Johns. It was Johns who introduced the idea of a Prophecy of the Blackest Night that was excised. It was also Johns who, in the Sinestro Corps aftermath, introduced the ten new laws that would be put into the Book of Oa. To the best of my knowledge, we've yet to see the full extent of these, though we do know they included lethal force being enabled.

During the event known as Emerald Twilight, when Hal Jordan went mad with grief after the destruction of Coast City (but was actually possessed by a fear demon) and destroyed the Corps, the Central Power Battery is destroyed. When that happens, the Corps is deactivated and Oa is depopulated. The Central Power Battery is rebuilt and the planet rebuilt in the graphic novel Green Lantern Legacy: The Last Will and Testament of Hal Jordan, 2002, wherein Hal's friend and mechanic Thomas Kalmaku rebuilds it with Hal's old ring. The Corps was reconstructed later, in Green Lantern Corps Recharge, November 2005 to March 2006. The planet gained another major feature following the Sinestro Corps War, massive rings that give it the shape of a Lantern that act as a shield.

The last major part of the planet, the ScienceCells first appeared in Green Lantern Vol. 2 #195, December 1985. The issue was actually a tie-in to Crisis on Infinite Earths. The ScienceCells act as holding cells for prisoners of the Lantern Corps. They are tied to the Central Power Battery, so that if the Central Power  Battery goes out, the cells open. Just like in game.

I'm going to be frank, they do not get used very often. The biggest use they've seen recently is the Emerald Eclipse arc, Green Lantern Corps vol. 2 between issues 33 and 38, April to September 2009, which saw a prison riot. More on that in Vice's bio.

Guy Gardner

 The first of the four Green Lanterns of Space Sector 2814 we're going to cover, Guy Gardner first appeared in Green Lantern vol. 2 #59, March 1968, and was created by John Broome and Gil Kane. The character was named after Gardner Fox and fan Guy H. Lillian III. That guy had a heck of a name, didn't he? His appearance was modeled after actor Martin Miller.

His first appearance was essentially a "What If?", showing Abin Sur's second choice for Green Lantern. The choice ends up coming down to mere distance- Hal Jordan is closer in proximity to Abin Sur than Guy is. What If Guy ends up becoming Green Lantern instead, and fights valiantly till succumbing to a "Yellow Plague" on an alien planet. The issue ended with Hal meeting the real Guy and becoming good friends.

Guy was quite literally put on a bus, or more accurately hit by one, in Green Lantern vol. 2 #87, December 1971, by Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams. This issue introduced a new backup Lantern, John Stewart. This crippled Guy, despite the fact that doesn't make a lick of sense for a Green Lantern. The same thing later happened to Stewart too... Anywho, Guy still appeared in GL, proposing to his girlfriend, the auspiciously named Kari Limbo. A later fight with Sinestro in issue 123, December 1979, left Guy in a coma he'd stay in until the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Late in the Crisis, Guy woke up. This was when Guy gained what would, through Justice League International, became his most well known personality: That of an insufferable jerk. I think it was supposed to be brain damage or something. Guy ended up one of Earth's 2 Green Lanterns (This was a while before the two Lanterns per sector rule; it was a special case) after Hal quit. He was brought in by rogue Guardians. That was in vol. 2 issue #195, December 1985, the same issue that introduced the ScienceCells. This issue also introduced his new, most famous costume, that with the double breasted vest.

A word of note about this. In its first appearance, no explanation is given. It's just a new costume, presumably to differentiate Guy from the other Lanterns. That in and of itself isn't too unique. A lot of Green Lanterns had been seen with differing uniforms, such as Xax. In Keith Giffen, Gerard Jones and MD Bright's Green Lantern Emerald Dawn II, issues 4 to 6, July to September 1991, we are introduced to the so called Fist of the Guardians, a group of Manhunter-esque robots wearing the iconic vests. They act as a sort of precursor to the Alpha Lanterns, arresting rogue Lantern Sinestro. It's never outright pointed out that their vest is the same as Guy's, but it's assumed that that is of some importance.

During the Crisis, Guy leads a sort of Suicide Squad lite to destroy Qward's moon, believing this would weaken the Anti-Monitor. Turns out it would actually make him stronger. Whoops! He ended up wanted by most of the universe for this. He made his return in the Legends event of 1987, still believing himself the rightful Green Lantern and holding a pretty big grudge against Hal. He ended up in the new Justice League, what we think of as Justice League International. It was this series, by Keith Giffen and JM Dematties that really put Guy on the map. It was this series that really emphasized the jerk aspect of him, as well as having him get a new girlfriend, Tora Olafson, AKA Ice, and introducing the polar opposite of jerk Guy, the so called "Nice" Guy that happens whenever he hits his head on something. Really funny stuff.

Well, then the 90s happened. For a while after Emerald Twilight, Guy had Sinestro's original ring and wore a black leather jacket. It looked pretty cool, actually. Then he found out he was actually a shape shifting alien, and it was pretty crap. Despite that, the series was actually quite good, and shed a lot of light on Guy's past. It was this series that introduced his troubled relationship with his father, for one thing. Then he pretty much disappeared into the aether. Following Green Lantern Rebirth, he went on to become a Lantern living on Oa directly as an Honor Guard and operating the cafetiere. He's had a lot of focus in Green Lantern Corps, got his own title in Emerald Warriors for a while, became a Red Lantern in a pretty cool story and was part of the Justice League International for a while pre-Flashpoint. Guy's  had it pretty good the past few years.


Lyssa Drak, the Book of Parallax and the stuff she summons in that fight with her
Catchy title, eh?

Anywho, Lyssa Drak first in Green Lantern vol. 4 # 18, May 2007, in a "Tales of the Sinestro Corps" backup written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons. Unlike other Sinestro Corpsmen, Lyssa Drak has never gotten a proper origin story. In her first appearance,  and subsequent "Tales of the Sinestro Corps" backups, she assists Amon Sur in his Fear Lodge training, wherein a Sinestro Corpsman is stuck inside a sort of shell that acts as a sensory deprivation tank. Inside, the Corpsman will have to master their fears as they hallucinate. Prior to sticking Sur in the tank, she reads him tales from the Book of Parallax of the origins of other Corpsman.

A brief tangent since it's impossible to discuss Drak without mentioning the Book.of Parallax since her primary role in the Corps is the Keeper of the Book. She's even bound to it via chains. The Book, which first appeared in Green Lantern Vol. 4 #18 as well, was created as an opposite to the Book of Oa and contains the histories of Sinestro Corpsman. It details how they use fear and other tidbits about them. Not much of its history is revealed and, in fact, following the Sinestro Corps War the Book itself goes missing. Later, Drak's ring leads her to what she assumes to be the Book of Parallax and turns out to be something I'll be covering next.

Drak is from Talok IV. This is actually a refernce to the Legion of Super-Heroes comics, where Shadow Lass, a visually similar character, is from Talok VIII. Mikaal Thomas, one of the plethora of Starmen, is from Talok III and Lyrissa Mallor, founding member of LEGION, is also from Talok VIII. This explains why she looks so similar to Shadow Lass, though that serves mainly as a mythology gag than anything else.

Drak's past is mostly unexplored. We don't know how she came to be in the Sinestro Corps. She's said to be the "Story Witch", though aside from her almost pathological obsession with her books, we don't know what that really entails. She's mostly a cipher character who exists to serve as living exposition, like in the Tales of the Sinestro Corps backups. It works well for her. During the Blackest Night, she was trapped in the Book of the Black, as seen in the Untold Tales of the Blackest Night oneshot, October 2010. She was let out by Krona shortly before the War of the Green Lanterns and ended up captured by the Guardians of the Universe. Most recently, in Green Lantern vol. 5 #6, March 2012, she's been seen held up in a ScienceCell, awaiting execution for knowing too much.

Her two phases before you actually fight her invole constructs of two Sinestro Corpsman, Kretch and Karu-Sil. Kretch is a demonic entity who destroys entire worlds by flame, as Drak explains in the fight. He hasn't appeared much at all, being confined to crowd shots and a bio in the Sinestro Corps War Secret Files and Origins, June 2008. The constructs resemble him.

The three beasts she summons are the Fathers Three, three beasts who raised Karu-Sil. Karu-Sil first appeaered in Green Lantern vol. 5 #19, June 2007. As a young girl on Graxos III, a brutal planet ruled by tooth and claw, her parents were killed by raiders. The young girl was raised by carniviours beasts as one of their own. She went as far as to cut her lips off to resemble them more. Years later, as an adult, a Green Lantern inadvertently rescued her by killing the beasts she now thought of as her "Fathers Three".

She responded by attacking him. He, in turn, responded by having her instituionalized. She responded again by brutally ripping three space psychologists apart before the Sinestro Corps ring chose her. As a Sinestro Corpswoman, she chose to recreate her Fathers Three and have them dance around her like a Maypole. That's actually where her name comes from- her design was created by Ethan Van Sciver years before her introduction, as a hopeful Ghost Rider villain called Carousel.

During the Untold Tales of Blackest Night, October 2010, her Fathers Three became Black Lanterns, forcing her to kill them. It was a pretty good vignette for a character htat had little to no depth prior to htat. As a whole, that was a pretty good one shot in general, actually.

A bit about the other books
One of the various things that several of the Lantern Corps seem to share are their respective books, similar to the Book of Oa and the Book of Parallax mentioned before. The Book of the Black first appeared in Green Lantern Corps vol. 2 #33. The tome was (apparently; its rather confusing, honestly) written by a corrupted Guardian called Scar. Scar had been "killed" by the Anti-Monitor during the Sinestro Corps War, and had formed  a connection to Nekron, Lord of the Unliving and big bad of the Blackest Night.

Within the Book of the Black were dozens of prophecies that made up the Origins and Omens backups that ran in all DC titles in March 2010, teasing upcoming stories. Following the Blackest Night, the tome was discovered by Lyssa Drak, who was trapped inside it. She was let out by Krona, as mentioned above. It played a brief role in the War of the Green Lanterns, trapping the chief Lanterns of the various corps, allowing their rings to come into the possession of the Earth GLs. Kyle Raynor was able to free them, amusingly enough, by literally drawing them being freed.

Following the reboot, it was seen in Green Lantern vol. 5 #5, February 2012, when Sinestro tracked down Lyssa Drak, who had gone rogue. Within the pages, he saw prophecies of the Guardians replacing the Green Lantern Corps and other story teases for as of yet upcoming stories.

None of the other books have been seen as of yte, though the Book of Rage was mentioned by Drak in Green Lantern vol. 5 #6 whilst begging to be allowed to a Book. She says it contains "tales of revenge so sweet!" Note this came after the Fight for the Light DLC that introduced the Book investigations.

Qwardian Weaponeers, Thunderers and General Fabrikant
These here boys were arguably the chief villains early in Hal Jordan's run as Green Lantern. They've faded, but once in a while they bubble back up to the service. Qward and the Weaponeers first appeared in Green Lantern vol. 2 #2, October 1960. I'm not entirely sure on the Thunderers first appearance, as I can't really find a source, but Fabrikant first appeared in issue 125 of GL vol. 2, February 1980.


In order to talk about these guys, it's necessary to first explain exactly what Qward is. Long story short, it's a planet, sort of analogous to Earth or maybe Oa, in the Anti-Matter Universe. It's been ruled over by the Anti-Monitor before, as well as Sinestro and Qwardians in general. It was originally ruled over by the Anti-Monitor, as explained during Crisis on Infinite Earths, who created the original Thunderers.

Thunderers are the warriors of Qward, storm troopers equipped with a "Qwa-Bolt", a lightning shaped weapon capable of firing energy bolts. Eventually, the Anti-Monitor fell into a sort of coma following a confrontation with his postive matter counterpart, the Monitor. This lead to the formation of the Weaponeers of Qward.

The Weaponeers are essentially smiths. In fact, they were the ones who smithed Sinestro's first yellow ring. They were also the ruling class on Qward. They came to blows with the Green Lanterns numerous times throughout history, gaining an interest in making their own rings. Their big chance came when rogue Lantern Sinestro was exiled to the Anti-Matter world. They took this opprutunity and smithed a ring for him, using the Yellow energy of Fear.

I'm going to be honest with you. There is a lot of history with the Weaponeers I've never heard of, nor care much for. If you'd like to learn more about the Weaponeers beyond the basics, consult their page on the GL wiki. It's quite in depth!

Fabrikant is another of those Prince Ulgo or Neo Magnetism allusions. A character so hopelessly obscure I'm outright shocked he's in the game. He's had a single appearance over the years,  Green Lantern Vol. 2 #128, May 1980. He was a Qwardian general and was really short, even for his race. He was able to pose as a Earth youth named Fabian in order to get close to Hal Jordan and attempt to destroy him. It didn't work, of course. He's never been seen again, and that's pretty much all there is to him. Seriously obscure.

Vice

Vice is a Red Lantern. As such, he doesn't have much in the way of an actual history. He first appeared in Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns, December 2008. Don't let the prefix fool you; it wasn't important at all for Final Crisis and seemed like an afterthought to tie the two in. Which is fine, as both stories were perfectly fine. Vice was created by Geoff Johns and artist Shane Davis.

Vice lived in Space Sector 0013, hence the epic tier Sector 13 shoulders. His species used their multiple head spikes to decapitate their prey- one spike went into the jaw, the other went through the top of the head. Then he pulled. His mate was murdered by Arkillo of the Sinestro Corps. The rage he felt was great enough to induct him into the then new Red Lantern Corps. Vice was just another Red Lantern for the Rage of the Red Lantern story, one of the numerous literally mindless monsters that made up the Red Lantern Corps.

Following the defeat on Ysmault, home of the Red Lanterns, Vice was captured by the Green Lantern Corps and held in the ScienceCells. During the Emerald Eclipse story that ran in Green Lantern Corps vol. 2 between issues 33 and 38, April to September 2009, Vice escaped the ScienceCells after the Central Power Battery was damaged by rogue Guardian of the Universe Scar. This is why he's in the ScienceCells alert- the overall alert is likely based on the Emerald Eclipse story.

Vice was able to subdue Voz, much to the cheer of the imprisoned Sinestro Corpsman. Their cheers turned to horror, though, when the mindless beast turned and began attacking them. The riot was eventually quelled, though many prisoners were exectued by the Alpha Lanterns. When the Blackest Night happened in the next storyarc, Guy and Kyle let Vice out, since destroying the Black Lanterns required multiple Lantern colors. As soon as he's released, though, a rogue Alpha Lanterns kills him, making the whole idea  a bit of a shaggy dog story. His ring chose Guy Gardner as a replacement, the first of two times Guy has wielded the red ring.


Evil Star & the Starlings
Evil Star may just be the most obscure character in DCUO as a boss that isn't Prince Ulgo. In fact, I'm really not sure at all why he's in the game.  He first appeared Green Lantern Vol 2 #37, June 1967.

Evil Star, real name unknown, was a scientist on the far away planet of Aoran and was scared of death. So he decided to draw generic cosmic energy from the stars into a device called the "Starbrand". The device acts sort of like a Green Lantern Ring and allows him to make constructs, but it twists his mind towards evil and prematurely ages his fellow Aorans. They decided that, hey, it's a pretty bad thing that he's doing, so they try and stop him. What does Evil Star do? Kill 'em all.

His Starbrand can also create miniature versions of himself he calls "Starlings". Originally, he could only create five. They were indestructible, hence why they do not take damage in DCUO. However, during the 1996 Underworld Unleashed event, Evil Star sold his soul to the demon Neron for the ability to create a limitless amount of Starlings, though they are no longer invulnerable. The Starlings he creates are extensions of himself. If he's knocked out, they go bye-bye.

After he was defeated in his first appearance, he was actually sent to a rehabilitation center by the Guardians. A "brain wave nullfier" was used on him in an attempt to reverse the damage the Star Brand had done, but all that did was stimulate his subconscious, recreating the Starlings.  He fled to Earth, thinking the Starlings were out to get him for some reason. While he was on Earth, fought a Darkstar for some reason or another. Then the aforemtentioned soul selling took place.

Honestly, that's about it. He was briefly seen in Green Lantern as the person who was in charge of the Kroletearns, the Gremlin-esque creatures who took Black Hand apart and put him back together. It was also mentioned he was attacking a Blue Lantern's homeworld. But that's it. That's pretty much every appearance he's ever had.

Seriously, why is he in the alert?

Alpha Lanterns
All told, the Alpha Lanterns are relatively recent additions to the Lantern mythos, first appearing Green Lantern Vol. 4 #27, March 2008. They were created by Grant Morrison in preparation for his Final Crisis story, but weren't actually originally written by him. That fell to Geoff Johns, who's been chief architect for Green Lantern since 2004.

The Alpha Lanterns are former Lanterns who have been combined with Manhunter technology to create what amounts to an internal affairs bureau for the Green Lanterns. Devoid of emotion, they are supposed to be able to police a recent addition to the Corps. That being lethal force was enabled against Sinestro Corpsman. Six Green Lanterns were selected to become Alpha Lanterns, though John Stewart declined.

The Alpha Lanterns first saw duty arresting Lantern Laira, who had murdered Amon Sur following his surrender in the Sinestro Corps War. The next time the Lanterns saw major duty was in Final Crisis, the story for which they were originally created for. In issue 1, May 2008, Hal Jordan is framed for the murder of the New God Orion and his aressted by the Alpha Lanterns.  In issue 3 it became clear that Alpha Lantern Boodikka was host to the Evil God Granny Goodness. She captured Batman, which lead directly into the death of Batman story.

Following this, they've been seen here and there. They were in Blackest Night and they had their own story arc, "Revolt of the Alpha Lanterns", where they were controlled by the Cyborg Superman. I've not read those, however. That's pretty much their entire history.

Krona
All right, Krona's DCUO fight is primarily  based on a recent story, 2011's War of the Green Lanterns. Because of this, I'll keep the information about his past short because of this.

Krona first appeared in Green Lantern vol. 2 #40, October 1965. He was a scientist on Maltusa, the planet the Guardians of the Universe were originally from. In fact, he's the reason they became the Guardians in the first place. Krona, in his hubris, decided to build a time television to view the creation of the universe. This proved disastrous, as he saw the Hand of God (Later retconned to be the hand of the Spectre). This somehow caused the Multiverse to be created. This also created the Anti-Matter Universe where Qward is, as well as the Anti-Monitor and the monitor. I'm going to be honest, this makes no sense to me. The Guardians chose not to execute Krona, but instead to transform him into pure energy and cast his consciousness across the universe.

He returned on a number of ocassions, including the introduction of Nekron, Lord of the Unliving. He was even the big bad in JLA/Avengers, from 2004. Despite his vairous appearances over the years, Krona's greatest contribution remained the story about the view screen.

However, across several years in Geoff Johns' Green Lantern run, more was added to Krona's history that is relevant to DCUO in ways that his other appearances. It was first established that he had acted as Jailer for the Emotional Entities, with Parallax kept in a box in his lab and the only map to Ophidian, the Orange Entity, in his possession. Krona became convinced that emotion was key to controlling emotion, as opposed to his other Malthusians, who were becoming increasingly stoic. It was during this time that he harnessed the emerald energy of Will for the first time, creating a power gauntlet and back mounted power battery to use it with. It was these that were the basis for the Green Lantern Rings the Guardians would eventually create. Following his exile, the Guardians kept the Gauntlet and battery under lock and key in what they called the Foundry. It was guarded by a special Green Lantern named Shedd. The Gauntlet first appeared in Green Lantern vol. 5 #63, March 2011, and saw extensive use during the War of the Green Lanterns.

The Guardians didn't take kindly to his behind-their-backs actions. They sent the Manhunters after him, but, as we see in the alert, he reprogrammed them in order to show the flaws of an unfeeling police force. He had them kill most sentient life in Space Sector 666, sparking the feud that would culimate in the existence of the Red Lanterns. Note that he was still a Maltsian during this, not the small Guardians. This is why he looks the way he does in the alert. This is also shown in #63.

In the present day, he returned and began to steal the emotional entities. Wrapped in "Malthusian Evolutionary Bandages" to jump start his evolution into a Guardian, he eventually started a War between Green Lanterns by placing Parallax back into the Central Power Battery and causing Lanterns to go berserk. In the end, Hal actually manages to override his ring's safety settings and kill Krona, leading to his dismissal from the Corps.

It's a good story, check it out.

History Behind DCUO: Bludhaven & Ace Chemicals

Bludhaven
Well, if we're going to cover the Bludhaven alert, I reckon we'd have to start with the place it all takes place in, won't we? Bludhaven- for typing's ease, I will be forgoing the umlaut in this article- first appeared in Nightwing v.2 #1 in October 1996, wherein Nightwing trails the second Blockbuster, Roland Desmond, to Bludhaven during the investigation of the murder of twenty-one Gotham gangsters.

Realistically, Bludhaven was introduced in an attempt to differentiate Nightwing from his mentor Batman. Since Nightwing was introduced, writers have gone back and forth on how to get Dick out of Batman's shadow- or if they even need too.

In story, Bludhaven was shown to be pretty much Gotham Lite, but even more corrupt. Every level of law enforcement was eaten through with corruption, the city was made of failed housing projects filled with addicts and more. It started out as a whaling town in the early 20th century, and was incorporated into a commonwealth in 1912. Owing in no small part to failed attempts at turning it into a shipping and manufacturing center, Bludhaven became a poverty stricken city. Thanks to high poverty rates and being overshadowed in all respects by nearby Gotham City, Bludhaven became a completely corrupt city. From top down crime ruled the city.

Note that several locations in the Alert are taken directly from the comics, such as the Spine, Mealtide Park and others. Y'all can consult the map I posted from Nightwing Secret Files and Origins if you want to see it closer.

When Nightwing chased Blockbuster to Bludhaven, he set up shop in the city, becoming its own protector. Over the next several years, Nightwing lived in Bludhaven and fought against Blockbuster, who essentially set himself as DC's Kingpin. Dick became Bludhaven's only honest cop and lived in an apartment complex also used by Golden Age hero Tarantula and former Batman villain Amygdla. In general, Bludhaven was pretty frickin' important for quite sometime. Probably due tot he concept of "Gotham... but poorer and more crime ridden." It works well enough, I suppose.

Anywho, it goes without saying that it got nuked, since it appearances as a chemical wasteland in DCUO.

That happened in Infinite Crisis #4, January 2006, the Brotherhood of Evil, acting on orders from the Secret Society of Supervillains, dropped chemical bomb Chemo on Bludhaven, killing most people involved. In Infinite Crisis proper, this wasn't used too much. However, one of the Crisis Aftermath miniseries, Battle for Bludhaven (June 2006), dealt hugely with the ruined city. In said mini, it was revealed that people had indeed survived the explosion and were forced to live in the ruins, quarantined by government agencies like the Superhuman Advance Defense Executive (SHADE). The city was also quarantined with a massive wall, creatively called the Wall. Of note, the concept of mutants arising in Bludhaven come directly from this- several humans were mutated into a group that would eventually become the new Freedom Fighters, used by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Grey in two minis and a short ongoing series. However, the mutants weren't nearly as prominent as the mutants in the Alert, due in no small part

Lots of stuff happened in the Battle, including a new group of "Atomic Knights" being loosed, as well Major Force being set loose on the city, as you'll read...now!

Major Force
Major Force is one of those evil versions of good characters, like Sinestro, Bizarro or Professor Zoom. In Force's case, he is the twisted mirror of Captain Nathanial Adam, alias Captain Atom.

Force  first appeared in Captain Atom #13 back in February 1988 and was created Cary Bates, Greg Weisman (of Gargoyles and Young Justice fame) and artist Pat Broderick. Force was the product of the Captain Atom Project that turned court martialed Vietnam soldier Nathanial Adam into Captain Atom. Clifford Zmeck was court martialed on charges of rape and murder and sentenced to life in prison. During the time he was locked up, Nathanial Adam got locked up in an alien ship and nuked to see what would happen, bonding the alien metal known as Dilustel to him and throwing him through the timestream.

So they took the murdering rapist and did the same thing with him. Comics, eh?

Zmeck emerged from the timestream a year after Captain Atom did. The government decided that they wanted a more servile quantum powered metal man and, in a move prescient of both the Suicide Squad and the Ellis Thunderbolts, stuck micro explosives under the Dilustel while it was still molten. Voila, instant government monster. Major Force became at first an ally and then, when his brutality went unchecked, an enemy. Throughout the Bates/Weisman series Zmeck was a hired gun for Captain Atom's corrupt handler, General Wade Eiling.

In Green Lantern vol. 3, #54, August 1994, Major Force commited the act that is not only his main claim to fame, but coined a new term. In said issue, Major Force kills Alexandra DeWitt, girlfriend of new Green Lantern Kyle Raynor. Major Force stuff her body into a refrigerator. Writer Gail Simone coined the term "Women in Refrigerators" after this, to be used when a (usually female) side character is injured/killed/etc. to make cheap drama for the protagonist. So, while Force isn't exactly a major villain, he HAS had a pretty big effect on the face of comics, albeit somewhat secondarily.

Force then sort of fluttered around comics for a while. In the Guy Gardner: Warrior series, (Issue 43, June, 1996), he killed Green Lantern Arisia, who later got better. Then Guy cut his head off. But then it turned out that as energy he can't die. Kyle later did the same when it looked like Force had killed his mother, but then that was retonned, presumably because seriously?

Force is in the Bludhaven alert, however, because of the aforementioned Battle for Bludhaven series. In it, he's the field leader of SHADE, a black-as-a-red-door ops group that specializes in metahuman affairs. Over the course of the mini, he kills Major Victor, an underling in a group called Freedom's Ring, and comes to blows with Hal Jordan. In the end, Force is "killed", inasmuch as an energy being can, by Captain Atom, who had been held under Command D, a special bunker underneath Bludhaven. Atom had been punctured during the Infinite Crisis and was leaking radiation. The Atomic Knights built a containment suit for him, but to their chagrin, Atom became unbalanced and became the much maligned Monarch. Speaking of Monarchs...

Ace Chemicals (Plus Monarch Playing Card Company)
Ace Chemicals is one of those things that doesn't really ever appear. It gets name dropped, sure, in no small part due to whose origin story happens in his fluorescent vats. But actual appearances? Those are much rarer.

Ace Chemicals and its next door neighbor, Monarch Playing Cards, both first appeared in Detective Comics #168, February 1951. This issue, "The Man Behind the Red Hood!", is rather important issue all told. In said issue, Batman discovers the Joker's identity: a crook from "ten years ago" called the Red Hood! See, the Hood had been a common thief in a fancy suit that had decided to rob the cashbox in the Monarch Playing Cards Company, which is right next door to the Ace Chemicals Processing Plant. Batman ends up knocking the Hood (or maybe he just fell) into the chemical vats of Ace Chemicals, causing his skin to be bleached and his hair to turn green. This turned out to be the One Bad Day that the Hood needed to turn him into the maniacal mirthful murderer called the Joker.

The next time the plant was shown in any sort of actual import was in the prestige format oneshot Batman: The Killing Joke, March 1988. Note that this is NOT an official origin, since the Joker in-story awknowledges that he doens't remember his past. "I prefer multiple choices!", he says. Anywho, the Joker was (maybe) a failed comedian who wanted to pull one robbery in order to help him, his wife and unborn child move up in the world, and ended up helping the Red Hood Gang into robbing Monarch Playing Cards, next door to a place he used to work at as an engineer, Ace Chemicals. Unfortunately, newly hired security and Batman show up, and the Joker ends up tumbling into chemicals and becoming the Joker.

That's pretty much it, actually. Last Rites, a story from late 2009, introduced the idea that it was Ajax Chemicals, part of Kane Chemicals, a chemical plant owned by Bruce Wayne's mother's family. It was also the source of the chemicals used by many villains early in Batman's career, explaining the various chemicals encountered back then, such as Dr. Death.

It was also important in the 1989 Batman movie, wherein it was Axis Chemicals. In said appearance, it was a plant owned by Carl Grissom, a gangster "Jack Napier" worked with. It was raided by police and Batman, ending with Napier getting shot in the face. Said wound caused his distinctive rictus. In the later parts of the film it was where the Joker manufactured his Smilex toxin. The use of it as a place where the Joker made his toxin is pretty clearly alluded to in the Alert.

Yup, that's pretty much it.





Chemo
Chemo is, for whatever reason, one of my favorite villains in the DC Universe. Seriously, I can't exactly pin down why I love the not-so jolly gelatinous green giant so much, but I do. Perhaps because he's such a distinctive character: A giant, transculscent green plastic humanoid filled with bubbling liquid. It just looks rad as hell.

Chemo has historically been an antagonist to the Metal Men, and as such, was created by Bob Kanigher and Ross Andru. He first appeared in Showcase 39, July-August 1962, the third of four issues the Metal Men had in Showcase, and their third overall. In the first appearance,  scientist Ramsey Norton, in one of those complete lapses of genres that only occurs in comic books, decides to dispose  of failed chemical experiments in a massive humanoid plastic shell. Why? Because why not. Anywho, the different chemicals somehow bring the shell to life. It, like many artificial creatures before it, kill its creator and goes on a rampage. It's stopped by the Metal Men and becomes possibly the closest thing to an arch nemesis the team had. They really didn't have many other recurring antagonists, especially in the early days.

Chemo returned to menace the team several times, in both the 1963 and 1973 series. It even fought Superman in DC Comics Presents #3, December 1978. The first time Chemo did anything big, however, wasn't until January 1986, in Crisis on Infinite Earths #10. It had appeared in the previous issue, attacking Earth-4's New York Harbor by spewing radioactive waste into the water. Issue 10, however, had the Silver Age Aquagirl, Tula, succumb to poisoning from the toxic beast. The fact that he managed to kill a character, however minor, was quiet impressive for this era. Chemo was destroyed immediatly afterwords when Valentina Vostock, Negative Woman, constricted around him with her N-Woman entity, shattering his plastic.

Although he next appeared in Action Comics #590, July 1987, his next semi-important appearance was in Peter David and Gary Frank's Supergirl #5 from January 1997. In said issue, Chemo menaced Leeburg, home of the Iron Age Supergirl, Linda Danvers. Interestingly, Danvers was able to destroy Chemo by telling the thing it wasn't human, causing it to essentially kill itself. This issue is important for one reason, however: the metal attachments that allow tubes to be attached to Chemo (See the Ace Chemicals alert) originate in this issue. This has been Chemo's design ever since, giving it a nice balance that the solid green original didn't have. This depiction has even made it into actoin figures, with the Collect and Connect in DC Universe Classic's Wave 9.

Chemo appeared here and there over the next few years, including a stint in the Suicide Squad during 2001's Our Worlds at War event. It wasn't until Infinite Crisis #4, December 2005, that Chemo had the appearance that solidified him as an important object in the DCU. In said issue, a Secret Society of Supervillains group (The Brotherhood of Evil from the Doom Patrol, actually) and Deathstroke drop Chemo as a makeshift chemical A-Bomb on Bludhaven, killing the majority of people inside and rendering it a mostly uninhabitable chemical wasteland. This is why Chemo is the boss of the Bludhaven alert, obviously.

Chemo has been used a few times since, including an appearance in Duncan Roulou, of Ben10 fame,'s great Metal Men mini. But for the most part, he's mostly remembered by DCUO, DC proper and the fanbase for his role in Infinite Crisis, a role which quite literally changed the face of the DC Universe.





Chemoids
J'onn rightfully says that Chemo isn't known for reproducing, but there have indeed been smaller Chemos. They were aptly, and somewhat adorably, called Baby Chemos. The Babies first, and only, appearance was in Superman #663, by Kurt Busiek and Carlos Pacheo. The gist of the issue involved Lightray, of the New Gods, bringing the so-called "Young Gods" to Metropolis. Whilst in the city, they helped Superman fight against the Baby Chemos. By the end of the issue, they were revealed to be a product of a Lexcorp project involving chemical samples of Chemo left over from the Bludhaven ruins.

For the most part, the Chemo Babies are scenery for the issue, a footnote in a larger story. But for whatever reason, they seem to clearly be the inspiration for the Chemoids in the Bludhaven and Ace Chemicals alerts.

History Behind DCUO: Gorillas A-Go-Go!

Gorillas!
I know what you're thinking. "Really? Gorillas? What, is there a history of gorillas in DC?" To which I'd say, "Of course!"

DC's history with gorillas goes back decades. Look back at DC's Silver Age output, and you'll notice a strange, recurring thing... Taro, the Gorilla Witch in Strange Adventures #186. The Mod Gorilla Boss in Strange Adventures #201, who fought Animal Man in one of his five appearances. The Living Bomb Beast and the Gorilla Mob Boss of Gotham City, who came to blows with the Caped Crusader in Detective Comics #339 and Batman #75, respectively, and Mogo the Bat-Ape, who helped the Dynamic Duo in Batman #114, and who is my favorite Silver Age one-shot Bat character.

There were even recurring characters, like Beppo the Super Monkey, Monsieur Mallah and Gorilla Grodd. The mark our primate pals left on comics is undeniable. But the question remains- why?

Surprisingly, we know. Strange Adventures was one of a number of anthology titles DC ran during the Atomic Age and the Silver Age, and ran predominently science-fiction stories. There weren't any recurring characters for quite a few years. Issue 8, May 1951, had a cover feature entitled "Evolution- Plus!" by Gardner Fox. The issue concerned a crook getting an evolution ray and causing hijinks. The contents aren't terribly important to the issue at hand, however. The cover is. Sales apparently spiked on this issue.

Julius Schwartz, a great fellow who was editor of various titles from the mid-1940s when he cut his (comic) teeth on All-Star Comics to the 1980s, when Superman tearfully bid adieu to his editor on the cover to the second half of "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?", kept ledgers carefully tracking sales of sales of comics. So, while I'm not 100% sure about this, I'd say Julie was the fellow who is responsible for the surge of gorillas in comics.

And once that was observed, the flood gates- or, shall we say, gorilla gates- were open. Over the course of the next twenty years, gorillas went from being something that was occasionally in comics, like anything else, to being a massive part. Superman fought at least a half dozen gorillas, and even became a gorilla. Hawkman fought flying gorillas in one very inexplicable comic, even for the Silver Age. And of course, the Flash came to blows with a certain recurring gorilla rogue multiple times throughout the ages.

Even decades later, the legacy of Gorillas marches on. Secret Origins #40, May 1989, was dedicated completely to primates, featuring the Secret Origins of Gorilla City, DC longtimer Congorilla (Ran for thirty years in Action!) and Detective Chimp. In 1999, DC had an entire summer event in the annuals called JLApe, wherein Grodd turns the heroes into gorillas. Even Alan Moore has alluded to the legendary gimmicks of the Silver Age in Promethea, with Crying Gorilla Comix, a nod to Carmine Infantino's claims that the color purple and heroes weeping sold covers.

Of amusing note, the gorilla in the pinstripe suit that you see at in, IIRC, villain clubs is likely an allusion to the aforementioned Mod Gorilla Boss.

Gorilla City
Gorilla City is a long standing feature in the DCU, dating back to Flash #106, April-May 1959. In its first appearance, Gorilla City was largely as it appears today: A brilliant, isolationist city deep in Africa, inhabited solely by hyper-intelligent gorillas.

It's a lovely, distinctly comic book concept, isn't it?

Anyways, as per the aforementioned gorilla centric Secret Origins #40, an alien spaceship crashed into the jungles of Africa. A bunch of curious gorillas then ripped open the spaceship and were briefly enamored with a shiny gem, and then cast it aside. In the original origin for Gorilla City, this was the source of their intelligence, similar to Green Lantern foe Hector Hammond. The alien inside the ship ends up worshipped as a god, and helps educate the gorillas, as well as instructing them to construct a city. When the gorillas are holding the crystal, two beams are released. One is pure and straight and strikes the gorilla that will become king: Solovar. The other, warped, hits the gorilla that will become known as Grodd.

Two explorers, Hughes and Albert Westly, find the city and learn of its origin from the alien that was in the ship, a wizened yet infant-esque creature worshipped by the gorillas. The two are welcomed by the gorillas and the Mentor, who wishes to escape with the two. However, the warped gorilla ends controlling the two as they escape, causing Hughes to kill the Mentor. While Westly is able to escape back to civilization, whereupon he is promptly stuck in a madhouse, Hughes isn't so lucky and are beaten to death. It turns out the whole thing was a gambit by Grodd to ensure isolation for Gorilla City.

The next time the City would see an outsider would be when Barry Allen, the Flash, was welcomed to the city whilst searching for the diabolical Grodd. He became friends with Solovar, helping him against Grodd time and time again, until Barry died in the Crisis on Infinite Earths. In the time following his death, Gorilla City began to open up more. In JLA Annual #3, part of the summer 1999 JLApe event, Solovar was prepared to open up Gorilla City to the United Nations before he was assassinated. More on that later.

Do note that Gorilla City has never been on an island in the comics, nor did the rocketship survive. It was explicitly destroyed by gorillas. There also isn't a volcano. I'm not entirely sure why the changes were made to DCUO, but it does help the game stand on its own, however small.

Gorilla Grodd
Arguably the most famous Gorilla in comics, Gorilla Grodd has been a thorn in the Scarlet Speedster's side since Flash #106, April-May 1959. This makes him one of Barry's oldest rogues, postdating only Captain Cold and the Turtle. In his first appearance, the psychic gorilla quests for the secret of "Force of Mind", or mind control. This story also has the frankly hilaroius Fred Pearson, a friend of Barry Allen's who starred in a popular stage show called "The Great Gorilla". The reason this is so funny is because the show apparently only has a single set, a living room, and stars a gorilla.

Anywho, the Force of Mind ends up being held within Solovar, the king of Gorilla City. Barry ends up having to help the king defeat the warped ape. Grodd ended up being a favorite of John Broome, apparenlty, appearing several other times in the next few years. For intance, he was involved in the positively memetic Flash #115, September 1960- the infamous "The Day the Flash Weighed 1000 Pounds!", wherein he fat-ifies the Flash. He was also a charter member of the Rogues in Flash #155, September 1965, though he is traditionally not on very positive terms with any of the Rogues, let alone a member.

However, the next big appearance for Grodd was in the 1970s title Secret Society of Super-Villains. While he was part of the Society from issue 1 on, it was in issue 8, August 1977 where Grodd actually became leader of the Society, pre-dating another infamous gorilla to lead the Society. This helped solidify Grodd as a "big" villain, along with appearing in the Challange of the Superfriends cartoon, though he lacked his trademark psychic abilities in that. Heck, he wasn't even the right color- he was brown.

Post-Crisis, he was a thorn in the sides of the Teen Titans, when he formed Tartarus, a super-group of villains consisting of mostly also-rans. He came to blows with the then new Flash, Wally West, and was defeated in part by Rex the Wonder Dog. And in his most ambitious, and mimicked in other media, Grodd attempted to turn the entire human species into gorillas in JLApe, an aforementioned event that makes up a big part of his arc in DCUO.

Interestingly, though he has never, to my knowledge, met the Ultra-Humanite, his hatred of "false" gorillas DOES stem from the comics. In Salvation Run #4, April 2008, he murdered Mnsr. Mallah, a gorilla artifiically made intelligent by his eventual boyfriend, a disembodied French brain, calling him a false gorilla that dares compare itself to a son of Gorilla City. Then he beat Mallah to death with the broken case of the Brain. Then the Joker kicked him off a cliff, where he was (wrongly, of course) assumed dead. Amusing aspect to keep for the game.

Gorillabomb
The amusing concept of a "Gorillabomb" that permeates the Grodd chapters is, amusingly enough, from the comics. The Gorillabomb was prominently featured in the JLApe annuals from Summer 1999. The storyline involved King Solovar being assassinated, supposedly by the "Human Supremacy Movement", but in truth by a secret cabal (Is there any other?) of evil gorillas called Simian Scarlet, being manipulated in turn by Grodd. Solovar had planned to open Gorilla City up and join the United Nations, but the perpetually scheming Grodd would have other plans.

Following the assassination, Prince Ulgo (more on him later) takes over the throne and declares war on humans at the UN. There, a Gorillabomb detonates, turning the UN Assembly into gorillas. The Flash (Wally West), Aquaman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Kyle Raynor and the Martian Manhunter are also turned. The rest of the very fun event has the various JLApes coming to blows with the Simian Scarlet, each themed after a different archetype (For instance: Grimm, the mob boss, or Admiral Tralfagor, the pirate captain) before turning their eyes on Grodd.

Of note is the way the Gorillabomb works. Rather than relying on already wonky evolution science, the Gorillabomb goes full on comic science and reconfigures your Morphogenetic Signature. The Morphogentetic Field, AKA the Red, is similar to the Green that binds all plant life in the Swamp Thing comics.

Surprisingly, the Gorillabomb has not been limited to JLApe and DCUO. It appeared as a major plot point in the last sesaon of Justice League Unlimited, wherein Lex Luthor discovered rival for leader of the Secret Society of Supervillains, Gorilla Grodd, had planned to detonate one and turn the planet's population into gorillas. Lex found the idea moronic and took over. It also appeared in Brave and the Bold episode "Terror on Dinosaur Island!", as a thematicly similar E-Ray that in and of itself may be a throwback to Evolution Plus.

Ultra-Humanite
Tip your hat, boys, for the oldest villain in DC Universe Online. Hailing from the long ago Action Comics #13, June 1939, he's just a month older than Batman and barely a year older than his first villain, Superman.

The Ultra-Humanite first appeared, as one could surmise from the above, as a Superman villain. He did not, however, appear as the albino gorilla most are familiar with. His first appearance was really strange, and involved the Ultra-Humanite masterminding a taxicab racket business in preparation for world domination. He had zero motivation. He just wanted to control the world. He even used the phrase world domination. In this story, he is an invalid confined to a wheel chair. In the end of the issue, the Humanite is assumed dead following his escape rocket exploding. He returned to trouble the early Man of Steel a handful of times as his first arch nemesis. Of note, was an appearance in Action Comics #21 that also introduced Terry Curtis who, forty years later, would become an important character in Roy Thomas' All-Star Squadron series. Action Comics #20 introduced the idea that he was capable of transplanting his brain into other bodies, namely that of Hollywood actress Delores Winters. This has became his second most used and remembered of his bodies.

Following the introduction of Luthor, and subsequent balding thereof, Jerry Siegal chose to retire the Humanite rather than have two bald mad scientists fighting against the Humanite. He lurked in limbo for decades afterwords. The Superman Family title in the 1970s had a feature entitled "Mr. and Mrs. Superman", which starred the Earth-2, or Golden Age, Superman and his wife, Lois Lane-Kent. In these backups the Ultra-Humanite was reintroduced.Once again, he used the brain-swapping gimmick. Although his gorilla form still wasn't introduced, he did switch his brain into a giant ant at one point. That earns style points, right?

His big break came in Justice League of America, vol. 1, #s 195-198,October-December 1981. In this arc, the Justice League and Earth-2's Justice Society came to blows against the aforementioned Secret Society of Supervillains and their new leader, who is revealed to the Humanite in an all new body, and the one that would be his most inconic: The albino gorilla with the elongated head. Interestingly, a story a few years earlier in Detective Comics #482, March 1979, starred a villain named Xavier Simon that also transfered his mind into an albino gorilla. Perhaps that was a "prototype" of the Humanite, similar to the Marvel Monsters that were called the Hulk.

The Humanite also meneced the All-Star Squadron and their time-traveling children in the Generation Saga that kicked off Infinity Inc., starting in March 1984. Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Humanite's history was, understandably, tinkered with. He wasn't seen too much until Geoff Johns used him in the JSA arc "Stealing Thunder", in 2002. In that arc, he switched his brain into Johnny Thunder's body and uses the Thunderbolt to take over the world, finally realizing his goal of global domination.

Then he gets shot in the head by the Crimson Avenger.

Of course, that didn't stop him from reappearing. In Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz' Booster Gold, he was a member of the Time Stealers, a pretty cool grouping of time-traveling villains. We actually saw where his original body came from in one appearance, in Justice League of America vol. 2 #7, July 2007. The albino gorilla was Nzame, a rare gorilla born into Gorilla City with healing powers. In a way, this makes Grodd's hatered of the "false" gorilla even funnier, considering that the body he inhabits is a holy gorilla.

There have also been two other Post-Crisis Ultra-Humanites, one in Legends of the DC Universe and the other in Palmiotti and Grey's Power Girl, but they really don't have much bearing here, so we'll let them slide.

Prince Ulgo
Mindblowing to me as well as likely you, the first boss in the Containment Facility alert is, in fact, from comics. Prince Ulgo first appeared in JLA Annual #3, part of the JLApe story. As mentioned before, he was the Prince of Gorilla City, and Solovar's nephew. Following the assassination of Solovar, Ulgo took the throne and declared war on the human species.

Ulgo later takes control of a giant robotic gorilla, Groggamesh, and begins to lay waste to Metropolis in Superman Annual #11. A newly un-Apified Superman reveals to Ulgo that his uncle wasn't assassinated by humans under their own free will, but instead were being manipulated by the Simian Scarlet. Then, as giant robots in comics are apt to do, Groggamesh goes out of control and is put out of commision by Superman. With the newly revealed treachery revealed to him, Ulgo agrees to help Superman and the rest of the JLA. In Martian Manhunter Annual #2, Ulgo fully apologizes for Gorilla City's actions during JLApe, and agrees to make full reparations. He's actually pretty cool in this appearance, humble and ready to carry on the dream of his uncle, that of human and gorilla co-existance.

Yeah, he's not a villain in his only appearances. Strange, huh?

History Behind DCUO: Oolong Island Alert, part 1

Oolong Island
Once upon a time, in America, I mean, the Silver Age, comic books were not very politically correct. Like, at all. Among the worst offenders was perhaps the most inexplicable foe Wonder Woman ever locked hopefully metaphorical horns with: Egg Fu. We'll get too him in a bit.

Following Infinite Crisis, DC ran a fifty two issue maxi series called 52. I know, creative, right? Rather than having a central plot, the entire series was set up like a year in the life of various DC heroes, in real time. One ongoing plot at the beginning was that someone was kidnapping mad scientists. Over the years, DC has had a respectful number of mad scientists. Unlike other comppanies, such as Marvel, DC usually plays their mad scientists completely 100% straight. Folks like Thomas Oscar Morrow, Thaddeus Bodog Sivana and Anthony Ivo are firmly in the Cave Johnson School of Throwing Science At the Wall, ethics be damned.

Anywho, Will Magnus (Who I'll cover in more depth later)became the face of this story. For his first few appearances, he met with his former mentor and villainous friend Thomas Oscar Morrow (Whom we'll be covering in another update, along his windy creation.) to discuss life, the Universe and mad scientist kidnappings. Ultimately, Morrow ended up being kidnapped. Magnus ended up kidnapped himself a few issues later, in 52 Week 22. The following week Magnus arrived on the as of yet unnamed Oolong Island, which was introduced as, "..what you get when the world's maddest scientists are given an unlimited budget and encouraged to let their imaginations run wild on the finest mind expanding narcotics available to man!" Two weeks later, in week 25, we get the true purpose of Oolong: Create the Four Horseman of Apokalypse. More on them in a bit. Suffice to say, it was eventually revealed that Oolong was part of a conspiracy involving the Religion of Crime, headed by Intergang, to bring the Evil Gods of Apokalypse to Earth.

Oolong ended up being attacked by Black Adam following the destruction of first the Four Horsemen, then the nation of Bialya. Through the careful leadership of Ira Quimby, the Science Squad overcome the Black Marvel.

Following 52, Oolong Island is officially disconnected from the People's Republic of China and becomes its own independent nation inhabited by mad scientists. Veronica Cale (First appearance Wonder Woman v2 #196, November 2003) somehow becomes its president. Cale was created by Greg Rucka as an attempt at making a rule 63 Lex Luthor for Wonder woman's rogues gallery, and ended up being mostly ignored till 52, wherein she was one of the Science Squad's members and the only penitent one. She was a major part of the 52 Aftermath: Four Horseman miniseries, and ultimately was able to contain the Horsemen she had helped create using a special, Apokalyptian containment unit. And just as the collectible says, she did indeed eat it. That happened in 52A:FH #6, March 2008.

The independent nation appeared in both Four Horsemen and Keith Giffen's Doom Patrol. Interestingly, both were written by Keith Giffen, whom had done the layouts for 52. I guess Keith took a liking to it. In the latter, the island is home to its own resident superhero team: The Doom Patrol! I really the Doom Patrol a whole lot.Lots happened in that series, but none directly pertinent.

Oolong in DCUO is seemingly modeled after its Doom Patrol era, with the Science Squad still having free range with their experimentation and with Cale as its president. Frankly, this is pretty interesting. 52 is obviously the most important story with Oolong, as neither Four Horseman nor Giffen's Doom Patrol were especially well selling. Trust me, I know. Doom Patrol was at one point DC's lowest selling comic in the DCU- made me proud to be a reader of it.

Egg Fu
We also got the mastermind behind Oolong: Chang Tzu, originally called Chiang Tzu, better known as Egg Fu. Egg Fu has a bit of a... unique history. Whilst many DC characters were given reboots following Crisis on Infinite Earths, few are as dramatic as Egg Fu. And with good reason- Egg Fu was pretty darn racist when he first appeared.

In his original incarnation, he appeared in Wonder Woman Volume 1 #157, cover date October 1967 and was created by notable crazy man Robert "Bob" Khanigar, known for his somber war stories and crazygonuts superhero comics, and Ross Andru. This issue was a few years after China turned Red, when Vietnam was still grinding men and the Russian Bear was still menacingly casting its shadow across Europe. So he's definitely in the spirit of the times, albeit filtered through Khanigar Kraziness.

There were three more-or-less distinct Egg Fus in the Silver Age. The aforementoined Egg Fu, who appeared completely inexplicably in the aforementioned #157. During the issue, the astoundingly wrong headed racial caricature actually managed to kill Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor by first turning Steve into a human bomb then blowing him and Wondy up with a missile. Then Wondy's mother resurrected them with an atomic structure reassembly beam. You know, like the Amazons had back then. The following issue Wondy defeated Egg Fu.

Egg Fu returned a few issues later in #166, cover date November 1966. This one was pretty much the same and was called Egg Fu the Fifth. Nothing much to note here, moving on...

The third-ish Egg Fu appeared in Metal Men #20, cover date June/July 1966. I guess that means he techincally came before the Fifth. Anywho, this one was a silly Dr. No ripoff called Dr. Yes. It's actually somewhat interesting that the Metal Men came to blows with an Egg Fu, considering their role in 52, where...

Egg Fu returned! After a mythology gag in John Byrne's Wonder woman run, Egg Fu returned in 52 week 25, Will Magnus meets the mysterious benefactor of Oolong Island, Chung Tzu. His old name is referenced at one point as one of his "nine thousand and nine unmentionable names" and is something he's a tad touchy about- the guard who alledgedly referred to him as Egg Fu is disintegrated. As the story moves on, we find out that A: Egg Fu is actually an Apokalyptian machine, similar to the easter egg from John Byrne's run and B: Is working for China, who is somehow involved in the whole Apokalyps situation.

Egg Fu's downfall ultimately comes from Will Magnus, who had been secretely recreating the Metal Men. In 52 week 49, Magnus takes a particle wave beam gun- the same one that is part of the Science Squad Experiments collection- Will Magnus destroys Egg Fu, leaving behind a yolk in the spider chair.

Little is actually explained about Egg Fu, truth be told. We know he's an Apokalyptian "flesh machine" and is capable of regenerating himself from a yolk left behind when he was destroyed. Following 52, he shows up in a Checkmate and Outsiders crossover still on Oolong Island, but isn't seen in Doom Patrol.

All told, it tickles me to no end to see that friggin' Egg Fu is in DCUO! Kudos to the development team.

Will Magnus and the Metal Men (But mostly Magnus)
Will Magnus and the Metal Men occupy that strange place as perpetual guest stars, destined to never hold a book long but show up every once in a while in other books. People like 'em. Just not enough to buy their book. Speaking of, buy Duncan Rouleu's Metal Men mini. It's great.

The Men were created as last minute filler by none other than Bob Khanigar and Ross Andru in Showcase #37, cover date March-April 1962. As introduced, the team were roobts made of elements and brought to life by "Responsometer" technology. Originally, they were wholesale robots. This has wavered once, in a four issue Metal Men miniseries that started in October 1993. In said mini, they were various people associated with Magnus who were killed and had their conscience transferred in a lab accident. I believe this is probably where player characters becoming Metal Men in the Oolong Island alert comes from.

Throughout the sixites, the Metal Men were destroyed and rebuilt in each story- it was sort of a gimmick of theirs. In fact, they were destroyed at the end of their first story, which wasn't intended to have followups! As sales fell throughout the decade, the writers tried something rather drastic. They had Doc Magnus go crazy, to be blunt. He was kidnapped and brainwashed by some foreign dictator. He ended up making a Plutonium Man, similar in concept to his Metal Men but malevolent. This story was referenced in 52. Rather than have the original explanation, Magnus was retconned to suffer from Bipolar Disorder, and was medicated for it. I'll explain it as I explained it to a friend of mine: When he's off his meds, he does science. Off his meds, he has no regard for ethics and makes science for the sake of science. The results are often things like the Plutonium Man. This has some basis pre-Crisis as well- in Metal Men v1 45, 1976, he was told to take medication to help with his shattered psyche. This ought to more than explain Magnus in the tech wing- "This is one of my bad days. Maybe I can finally get some work done."

The Plutonium Man wasn't the last time there were evil Metal Men, either. While most were Metal Men like Aluminum or Sodum, from Metal Men #3, there were emtotionless copies of the actual Metal Men in 52 Week 22. There is pretty good basis for the Metal Men enemies in Oolong Island, as they were made by evil scientists and were used to kidnap Magnus, as alluded to earlier in this article.

While we are talking about Magnus, I should explain something else related to him, but not especially to Oolong Island...

Veridium
Veridium appears as an adjetive on a handful of items in DCUO. This is one of the many fictional items in the DCU, although it did get some bizarre exposure in the Dragon Age: Origins videogame. Veridium first appeared in Metal Men v2 #4, from January 1994. In said issue, Doc Magnus is killed and transfers his conscience to a blank Metal Man robot made of an alien metal. Veridium has the special property of being able to store and channel heat and energy. I'm not sure the element has been used especially much since this, although Magnus' brother David became another Veridium in Metal Men v3 8.

As you can probably tell, Magnus didn't stay Veridium. In 52 week 22, it was retconned that that, along with the human origin for the Metal Men, had been a hallucination of Magnus', brought on by severe depression.