kallis@pen.DEC (03/22/85)
Suspect that the REAL reason for this series wasn't as much to clear up the rather baroque histories, but rather to get rid of charact- ers DC couldn't handle or understand. Case in point: Johnny Thunder (one of my personal favorites). After the REAL JT more or less disappear- ed from ALL STAR, there was a Western hero of that name. Now there's a 4-part miniseries about "Jnni Thunder," who looks like the original JT's thunderbolt (well, at least a LITTLE -- though obviously female). Looking at the (infrequent) appearance of the original, it's ob- vious that DC scripters are uncomfortable with him, and maybe they'll try to expunge him totally (hope not). The problem involved in COIE is that the idea of reform can be very transient -- how many times we have seen a "new DC" being touted? Some major characters may go, to be sure; I don't reallky worry about Supes, Bats, TT. I HOPE Swamp Thing's going to be okay (and please notte the latest issue of SOST indicated a Lovecraftian Event THIS SUMMER, after which there will be no future[!]), and we'll see. If the rumor about killing everybody off is REALLY true, the soution is obvious: Michael (ex-Korvac) of the Marvel Universe isn't really dead; he just gos to the DC universe and recreates it! S. Kallis, Jr.