Guardians of the Universe
The Guardians of the Universe are a fictional race of extraterrestrials appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics in association with Green Lantern. They first appeared in Green Lantern Vol. 2, Issue 1, were created by John Broome and Gil Kane. The Guardians of the Universe have been adapted to a number of films, television programs, video games; the Guardians of the Universe are the founders and leaders of the interstellar law enforcement agency known as the Green Lantern Corps, which they administer from their homeworld Oa at the center of the Universe. The Guardians resemble short humans with white hair, they are depicted as being immortal and are the oldest living beings created in the Universe, but not the first. The Guardians evolved on the planet Maltus, being among the first intelligent life forms in the universe. At this time they were tall greyish blue humanoids with black hair, who resembled humans except for their skin color, they became thinkers, experimenting on the worlds around them.
One experiment led to the creation of the Psions. In a pivotal moment, billions of years ago, a Maltusian named Krona used time-bending technology to observe the beginning of the Universe. However, this experiment, attempts to stop it, unleashed disaster upon all existence; the experiment splintered the Universe into the Multiverse and created the evil Anti-Matter Universe of Qward. Following the retroactive destruction of the Multiverse, it was revealed that Krona flooded the beginning of the Universe with entropy causing it "to be born old". Feeling responsible for this, the evolved Maltusians relocated to the planet Oa and became the Guardians, their goal was simple: combat evil and create an orderly universe. They acted on that goal. During this period they evolved into their current appearance, losing about half of their height and having their skulls grow larger, they now act as the leaders of the Green Lantern Corps, an interstellar police force which patrols the universe. Desiring to bring order and harmony to all the universe, they created a mechanized police force composed of powerful, self-aware androids known as Manhunters.
These Manhunters, resembling uniformed, blue-skinned humanoids, operated as cosmic police officers, much like the Green Lanterns. They protected civilization and maintained peace in the Universe for millions of years, patrolling 3600 sectors into which the cosmos had been divided. One day, the Manhunters collectively changed their directives and set out on a campaign to eradicate all organic life. Starting with Sector 666, they killed the people they had been created to protect, eradicating all life in the entire sector before the Guardians stopped them. Most Manhunters were decommissioned after the massacre of Sector 666, but the ones that escaped became the sworn enemies of their former masters and remained so until modern times; the Manhunter rebellion caused the Guardians to split into groups with different goals. The Controllers believe the only way to protect; the Zamarons, consisting of female Oans, felt no need to involve themselves in the Universe's problems at all. Over the years, both groups evolved to look dissimilar to the Guardians.
Other groups left the Guardians. The Apokolips campaign ended with the Guardians forced to abandon a soldier to Darkseid. Fearing dissension, they ordered all records of the Campaign expunged. Survivors of the massacre of Sector 666 – beings labelled demons – banded together to form a nation called the Empire of Tears, which opposed the Guardians’ efforts and philosophy, they used dark magic to create a galaxy-spanning realm of evil. The Guardians defeated the Empire and imprisoned its leaders, the Five Inversions, on the bleak world of Ysmault; the Guardians decided that magic was chaotic and posed a threat to the balance they desired to achieve. They labored to suppress or imprison its users throughout the Universe, they succeeded in compacting much of the chaotic magic energy of the Cosmos and imprisoning it inside a star. The Guardians were wiped out in the events of Emerald Twilight, the only survivor being Ganthet, they sacrificed themselves to create one final power ring, a power ring more powerful than all others before it.
Oa was itself destroyed in a battle between Parallax and Kyle Rayner, but rebuilt in the events of "Legacy" as the final wish of Hal Jordan's former power ring. The Guardians have since been restored when Kyle Rayner, as Ion, recharged the Central Power Battery. Rayner lost his power and role as Ion but this sacrifice released all the Guardian's life forces from the dormancy in his ring; the Immortals first appeared as children but aged and many seem to have returned to the identities they had before they created Kyle Rayner's power ring. Unlike before however, the Guardians are female, rather than just male. While Kyle had made them children in order for them to grow up and become less cold than their predecessors, this had not worked. Instead, the Guardians were as cold and manipulative as they were before the Emerald Twilight, with the exception of Ganthet and Sayd. One of them, seemed to have reverted to the original Maltusian appearance in the process. Many of the Guardians revived by Kyle Rayner seemed to have disappeared as only a handful now appear in the current Green Lantern issues, while dozens were revived by Kyle Rayner.
Female Guardians appear in flashbacks to Hal Jordan's rookie days as a Green Lant
Green Lantern Corps
The Green Lantern Corps is the name of a fictional intergalactic military/police force appearing in comics published by DC Comics. They patrol the farthest reaches of the DC Universe at the behest of the Guardians, a race of immortals residing on the planet Oa. According to DC continuity, the Green Lantern Corps has been in existence for three billion years, surviving multiple conflicts both internal and foreign. Operating divided as pairs amongst the 3600 "sectors" of the universe, there are 7202 members, two lanterns for every sector, except for sector 2814, which has six members; each Green Lantern is given a power ring, a weapon granting the use of incredible abilities that are directed by the wearer's own willpower. In 1959, during a revival of the popularity of superhero comics in America, DC Comics' editor Julius Schwartz decided to reinvent the 1940s superhero character Green Lantern as a science fiction hero. Schwartz's new conception of Green Lantern had a different name and origin story, no connection to the original Green Lantern.
Whereas the Green Lantern of the 1940s was a lone vigilante who only had adventures on Earth, the new Green Lantern was but one of a group of interstellar lawmen who all called themselves Green Lanterns. The group is first mentioned in Showcase #22 when a dying Green Lantern passes on his ring to Hal Jordan. Over the years, writers have introduced a large cast of Green Lanterns in both supporting and starring roles; the Guardians of the Universe are one of several races that originated on the planet Maltus and were among the first intelligent life forms in the universe. At this time they were short greyish blue humanoids with black hair, they became thinkers, experimenting on the worlds around them. In a pivotal moment billions of years ago, a Maltusian named Krona used time-bending technology to observe the beginning of the universe. However, this experiment unleashed disaster upon all existence; the experiment splintered the universe into the multiverse and created the evil anti-matter universe.
Following the retroactive destruction of the Multiverse, it was revealed that Krona flooded the beginning of the universe with entropy causing it "to be born old". Krona's experiment drew Volthoom a traveler from the multiverse looking to save his Earth, he bought with him the Travel Lantern powered by the Emotional Spectrum. Through working with Volthoom the future Guardians shed their emotions into The Great Heart and inadvertently created the First Ring. Volthoom received this ring and had the Great Heart implanted in his chest, controlling the whole emotional spectrum made him dangerous; the future guardians destroyed his Travel Lantern further escalating the situation. Future Guardian Rami used the pieces of the Travel Lantern to create the first seven green lantern rings and imprison the First Lantern Volthoom. Soon after it was decided that the emotional spectrum was at present too dangerous to wield; the male Maltusians argued about. One group decided to dedicate their eternal existences to contain evil.
A single male Guardian would become the Pale Bishop and found The Paling, an anti-emotion faith. The females, saw no need to involve themselves and, since the Oans were by immortal and had no more need to reproduce, left their mates and became known as the Zamarons founding the Star Sapphires. Relocating to the planet Oa at "the center of the universe", the Guardians dedicated themselves to combatting evil and creating an orderly universe. During this period they evolved into their current appearance. A Green Lantern's only weakness is the yellow energy of fear, opposite to the green energy of will. After the Green Lantern Sinestro betrayed the Green Lantern Corps and created the Sinestro Corps, a prophecy was fulfilled that Lantern Corps of the other cosmic energies of emotion shall form, such as Red, Black, Indigo and Violet. In their first attempt to enforce their will and guard against all menaces, about 3.5 billion years ago the Guardians of the universe created a legion of robotic sentinels called the Manhunters.
At first serving faithfully to enforce order, in time the Manhunters came to resent their servitude and the moral restrictions the Guardians decreed of them. They were found to be inherently flawed due to their inability to recognize or feel emotions, they rebelled against the Guardians and fought a millennia-long war that culminated with an attack on the planet Oa. The Guardians overcame their android servants, stripped them of their power, banished them across the universe; the surviving Manhunters formed their own robotic society and pursued their own interpretation of their original mission. In the Martian Manhunter series, the Guardians first get the idea for an intergalactic police force from the Martians' own Manhunters, they offer the Martian race the opportunity to be that force. The Martians turn it down. In Geoff Johns' 2008 storyline "Green Lantern: Secret Origin", it is revealed that the Manhunters suffered from a malfunction in their logic that led them to believe that order could only be achieved by eliminating all life.
They rampaged through Sector 666. The only survivors banded together to form the Five Inversions, swearing revenge on the Guardians for the actions of their creations. One of the five, would become the leader of the Red Lantern Corps, it was discovered that the Manhunters
Cloning
Cloning is the process of producing genetically identical individuals of an organism either or artificially. In nature, many organisms produce clones through asexual reproduction. Cloning in biotechnology refers to the process of creating clones of organisms or copies of cells or DNA fragments. Beyond biology, the term refers to the production of multiple copies of digital media or software; the term clone, invented by J. B. S. Haldane, is derived from the Ancient Greek word κλών klōn, "twig", referring to the process whereby a new plant can be created from a twig. In botany, the term lusus was traditionally used. In horticulture, the spelling clon was used until the twentieth century. Since the term entered the popular lexicon in a more general context, the spelling clone has been used exclusively. Cloning is a natural form of reproduction that has allowed life forms to spread for hundreds of millions of years, it is the reproduction method used by plants and bacteria, is the way that clonal colonies reproduce themselves.
Examples of these organisms include blueberry plants, hazel trees, the Pando trees, the Kentucky coffeetree and the American sweetgum. Molecular cloning refers to the process of making multiple molecules. Cloning is used to amplify DNA fragments containing whole genes, but it can be used to amplify any DNA sequence such as promoters, non-coding sequences and randomly fragmented DNA, it is used in a wide array of biological experiments and practical applications ranging from genetic fingerprinting to large scale protein production. The term cloning is misleadingly used to refer to the identification of the chromosomal location of a gene associated with a particular phenotype of interest, such as in positional cloning. In practice, localization of the gene to a chromosome or genomic region does not enable one to isolate or amplify the relevant genomic sequence. To amplify any DNA sequence in a living organism, that sequence must be linked to an origin of replication, a sequence of DNA capable of directing the propagation of itself and any linked sequence.
However, a number of other features are needed, a variety of specialised cloning vectors exist that allow protein production, affinity tagging, single stranded RNA or DNA production and a host of other molecular biology tools. Cloning of any DNA fragment involves four steps fragmentation - breaking apart a strand of DNA ligation - gluing together pieces of DNA in a desired sequence transfection – inserting the newly formed pieces of DNA into cells screening/selection – selecting out the cells that were transfected with the new DNAAlthough these steps are invariable among cloning procedures a number of alternative routes can be selected; the DNA of interest needs to be isolated to provide a DNA segment of suitable size. Subsequently, a ligation procedure is used; the vector is linearised using restriction enzymes, incubated with the fragment of interest under appropriate conditions with an enzyme called DNA ligase. Following ligation the vector with the insert of interest is transfected into cells.
A number of alternative techniques are available, such as chemical sensitivation of cells, optical injection and biolistics. The transfected cells are cultured; as the aforementioned procedures are of low efficiency, there is a need to identify the cells that have been transfected with the vector construct containing the desired insertion sequence in the required orientation. Modern cloning vectors include selectable antibiotic resistance markers, which allow only cells in which the vector has been transfected, to grow. Additionally, the cloning vectors may contain colour selection markers, which provide blue/white screening on X-gal medium; these selection steps do not guarantee that the DNA insert is present in the cells obtained. Further investigation of the resulting colonies must be required to confirm that cloning was successful; this may be accomplished by means of PCR, restriction fragment analysis and/or DNA sequencing. Cloning a cell means to derive a population of cells from a single cell.
In the case of unicellular organisms such as bacteria and yeast, this process is remarkably simple and only requires the inoculation of the appropriate medium. However, in the case of cell cultures from multi-cellular organisms, cell cloning is an arduous task as these cells will not grow in standard media. A useful tissue culture technique used to clone distinct lineages of cell lines involves the use of cloning rings. In this technique a single-cell suspension of cells that have been exposed to a mutagenic agent or drug used to drive selection is plated at high dilution to create isolated colonies, each arising from a single and clonal distinct cell. At an early growth stage when colonies consist of only a few cells, sterile polystyrene rings, which have been dipped in grease, are placed over an individual colony and a small amount of trypsin is added. Cloned cells are transferred to a new vessel for further growth. Somatic-cell nuclear transfer, known as SCNT, can be used to create embryos for research or therapeutic purposes.
The most purpose for this is to produce embryos for use in stem cell research. This process is called "research cloning" or "therapeutic clonin
Amanda Waller
Amanda Blake Waller is a fictional main character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in Legends #1 in 1986, was created by John Ostrander, Len Wein, John Byrne. Amanda Waller is an occasional ally to the superheroes of the DC Universe. Amanda Waller is an ambivalent character in the DC Universe, she is the director for the deadly missions of the Suicide Squad and a specialist who oversees research into people with powers. Although she lacks superpowers herself, the character is a ruthless, high-ranking government official who uses guile, political connections, sheer intimidation to achieve her goals in the name of national security. Waller is associated with the fictional government agencies Checkmate and A. R. G. U. S. In recent years, the character has been adapted into animated and live action media. Several actresses have voiced or portrayed the character: C. C. H. Pounder for various animated projects; the people most responsible for shaping the character in her earliest appearances were John Ostrander and Kim Yale, in the pages of the Suicide Squad series in the late 1980s.
Nicknamed "the Wall", she is a former congressional aide and government agent placed in charge of the Suicide Squad, a semi-secret government-run group of former supervillains working in return for amnesty. She served as Secretary of Metahuman Affairs under President Lex Luthor, before being arrested in the wake of Luthor's public fall from grace. Waller was reassigned to the leadership of Checkmate as White Queen, but was forced to resign because of her involvement in Operation Salvation Run. Amanda Waller has been established as a widow who escaped Chicago's Cabrini–Green housing projects with her surviving family after one of her sons, one of her daughters and her husband were murdered. Waller became a congressional aide. During that time, she discovered the existence of the first two incarnations of the Squad. Taking elements from both of these, she proposed the development of its third incarnation to the White House and was placed in charge upon its approval; the Agency was formed by Amanda Waller to serve as a small, quasi-independent branch of Task Force X. Valentina Vostok brought former NYPD Lieutenant Harry Stein into the Agency as an operative.
Amanda Waller promoted Stein to the command position and demoted Vostok. Harry Stein would reorganize the Agency and name it Checkmate. Waller's tenure as the official in charge of the third Suicide Squad was tumultuous and controversial. Despite many successes, she developed a habit of defying her superiors in Washington in order to achieve goals both legitimate and personal on more than one occasion; the earliest conflict between her and her superiors revolved around the leadership of the Suicide Squad. Although she proposed that the Bronze Tiger, the man she had helped out of his brainwashing, lead the team he was instead relegated to second-in-command, Rick Flag Jr. was made the leader. Waller resentfully presumed the situation to be racially charged, related to not only her own status as a black woman, but Bronze Tiger's own skin tone, although the Tiger himself did not believe this was a factor, instead believing this was a result of mistrust due to the brainwashing imposed upon him by the League of Assassins.
Her relationship with the Squad itself was one of mutual dislike. Most of the team's criminal members did not take to Waller's methods, the team's heroes were at odds with Waller. Waller's inability to deal and compromise with her troops led to Nemesis's departure from the team and the death of a US senator, which indirectly caused the death of Rick Flag Jr; those type of conflicts, were not only limited to her superiors and her team, but extended to Batman, who opposed the forming of the Suicide Squad. Nonetheless, the team remained loyal to her choosing to side with her instead of the government, it was revealed that the reason that Amanda Waller kept the heroes such as Nightshade around, was in order for them to act as her conscience. Over the course of her first run with the Suicide Squad, her actions became erratic as she fought to retain control of the Squad; this was heightened by the public revelation of the Suicide Squad, her being replaced, although her'replacement' was in fact an actor, Waller remained the team's director.
That secret would be revealed and Amanda Waller would be put on trial. During this time, the Squad became involved in an interagency conflict in a crossover between the Checkmate and Suicide Squad titles called the Janus Directive. One of the field missions is against her will, as many members of the Squad, Waller included, are forcibly kidnapped and taken to Apokolips; this is because team member Duchess remembered her past as Lashina of the Female Furies, instead of being amnesiac as she pretended, wished to return home with suitable sacrifices. The Squad suffers fatalities battling Apokolips' forces, with Waller confronting Granny Goodness. However, the confrontation ended with the deaths of Dr. Light and one of Waller's own nieces, Count Vertigo near-fatally wounded, she found herself serving prison time for her pursuit of an organized crime cartel based in New Orleans called the LOA and killing its leade
Parallax (comics)
Parallax is a fictional comic book supervillain in the DC Comics universe. Created by writer Ron Marz and artist Darryl Banks for Green Lantern vol. 3, #48, Parallax was devised as the new supervillain identity for then-former Green Lantern protagonist Hal Jordan. After further changes for the Hal Jordan character over the subsequent years, 2004's Green Lantern: Rebirth once again cast Jordan as a heroic Green Lantern and explained Parallax as an ancient entity embodying the yellow light of fear which possessed Jordan and drove him to villainous action. Parallax was revealed to have been once imprisoned within the Central Power Battery on the planet Oa, from which all Green Lanterns derive their power, was the reason for the necessary impurity that in the past rendered the rings useless against anything colored yellow. In 2009, Parallax was ranked as IGN's 92nd Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time. In 1994, in an effort to generate interest in its Green Lantern comics, DC replaced Hal Jordan, the primary Green Lantern since the late 1950s, with the character Kyle Rayner, eliminated the Green Lantern Corps which had served as supporting characters in the series.
This was done beginning Green Lantern vol. 3, #48. Following the complete destruction of his home town Coast City by the villain Mongul, Hal Jordan descends into madness, destroying the Green Lantern Corps, killing his friend Kilowog and all of the Guardians except for Ganthet. After this, Jordan became a supervillain; as detailed in the crossover Zero Hour: Crisis in Time, Parallax attempted to rewrite history in order to stop the destruction of Coast City by using chronal energy, pulled from the universe by the combined power of the rings of the Green Lanterns he had killed. While Kyle Rayner became the primary Green Lantern of Earth for the next decade, Hal Jordan terrorized the DC universe as the villain Parallax and attempted to make the Cyborg Superman pay for the destruction of Coast City. Hal sacrificed his life to reignite Earth's sun after it was nearly eaten, his soul not at peace, Hal became the new Spectre to seek redemption for what he did as Parallax. The 2004 miniseries Green Lantern: Rebirth, written by Geoff Johns and penciled by Ethan Van Sciver, revealed that Parallax was a parasitic entity dating back to the dawn of time and born from the yellow of the emotional spectrum.
The parasite was the sentient embodiment of fear, traveling from world to world and causing entire civilizations to destroy themselves out of paranoia. The Guardians of the Universe imprisoned Parallax within the Central Power Battery on Oa using fear's opposite energy, along with the aid of one of the fear's counterparts, Ion. Parallax had lain dormant for billions of years, its true nature hidden by the Guardians to prevent anyone from trying to free it. Being yellow in color, Parallax came to be referred to as "the yellow impurity", a flaw, whose nature was kept secret from the Corps, that made their rings useless against the color yellow: Parallax weakened its power over the corresponding spectrum. Thus, when recruiting new Green Lanterns, the Guardians were careful to look for recruits who could do this; when the renegade Sinestro was imprisoned in the Power Battery himself, his Qwardian yellow power ring tapped into Parallax's power and awakened it. Since Sinestro harbored hatred for Hal, Parallax chose Jordan as its tool to free itself.
Parallax spent years influencing Jordan, causing him to experience increasing self-doubt as well as causing his hair to prematurely whiten at the temples. Jordan's grief over the destruction of Coast City let Parallax influence Jordan's subsequent murderous activity, his apparent killing of Sinestro, Jordan's destruction of the Central Power Battery. After it was learned something amiss was happening on Oa, a task force, which consisted of Guy Gardner, Wonder Woman, Captain Atom, Alan Scott, Martian Manhunter, Ferrin Colos of the Darkstars, Arisia, ventured to Oa to discover the cause of Guy Gardner's visions of its destruction that were brought about by him wielding Sinestro's power ring. On Oa, the task force confronted Hal, but he defeated them. Only Alan Scott and Guy Gardner were able to get a hit on Jordan. Guy proved to be the most effective against Jordan because he could absorb the energy that Jordan was using against him in the battle. Jordan still managed to overpower Guy and destroy his Qwardian power ring.
Jordan proceeded to send the whole task force back to Earth. Since Parallax was gone from the Oan Power Battery, the final power ring conferred to Kyle Rayner did not have any weakness against yellow; the young ring bearer has some limited resistance to the fear entity's influence as Rayner is a Green Lantern who understands fear, has the requisite strong will of a ring bearer. Despite being possessed by Parallax, the positive aspect of Jordan's personality would resurface eventually leading the infected Jordan to use Parallax's powers to reignite the Sun during the event known as "The Final Night", aiding the universe's greatest heroes to stop the rogue angel Asmodel from raising Hell t
Martian Manhunter
The Martian Manhunter is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Joseph Samachson and designed by artist Joe Certa, the character first appeared in the story "The Manhunter from Mars" in Detective Comics #225. Martian Manhunter is one of the seven original members of the Justice League of America and one of the most powerful beings in the DC Universe. Martian Manhunter has been featured in other DC Comics-endorsed products, such as video games, television series, animated films, merchandise like action figures and trading cards; the character was ranked #43 on IGN's greatest comic book hero list. Martian Manhunter was played by David Ogden Stiers in the 1997 Justice League of America live-action television pilot. Phil Morris portrayed him in the television series Smallville. David Harewood portrays the human guise of Martian Manhunter on Supergirl; the Martian Manhunter debuted in the back-up story "The Strange Experiment of Dr. Erdel" in Detective Comics #225, written by Joseph Samachson and illustrated by Joe Certa.
The character is a green-skinned extraterrestrial humanoid from the planet Mars, pulled to Earth by an experimental teleportation beam constructed by Dr. Saul Erdel; the Martian tells Erdel where he is from, is told that to send him back will require the computer brain's thinking plot to be changed. The shock of the encounter leaves J'onzz with no way of returning home; the character decides to fight crime while waiting for Martian technology to advance to a stage that will enable his rescue. To that end, he adopts the identity of John Jones, a detective in the fictional Middletown, U. S. A. During this period, the character and his back story differ in some minor and some significant ways from modern treatments. Firstly, as with his counterpart, the Silver Age Superman, J'onzz's power range is poorly defined, his powers expand over time as the plot demands; the addition of precognitive abilities is followed by telepathy and flight, "atomic vision", super-hearing, many other powers. In addition, his customary weakness to fire is only manifested when he is in his native Martian form.
A more significant difference is that in this version of him, there is no suggestion that Mars is a dead planet or that the character is the last of his kind. Many of the tales of the time feature either Martian technology or the appearance of other Martian characters. Detective Comics #236, for example, features the character making contact with the planet Mars and his parents. J'onzz reveals his existence to the world, after which he operates as a superhero and becomes a charter member of the Justice League. During the character's initial few years as a member of the Justice League, he is used as a substitute for Superman in stories as DC Comics were worried about using their flagship characters too in Justice League stories, fearing overexposure; the Martian and the archer inaugurated the team-up format of the Bold. J'onzz appears there one other time, working with the Flash. In some stories he is shown travelling through space to other planets; the detective John Jones is ostensibly killed in action by the Idol Head of Diabolu, an artifact which generates supernatural monsters.
J'onzz abandons the civilian identity as he decides fighting this new menace will take a great deal of his time. At this point his feature moves to House of Mystery, where J'onzz spends the next few years in battle against the Idol Head. Shortly after its defeat, he takes the persona of Marco Xavier in order to infiltrate the international crime cartel known as VULTURE, which he defeats in the final installment of his original series; as Superman was allowed by DC to become a active member of the Justice League, J'onzz's appearances there dwindled. He last participated in a mission in his original tenure in #61, shortly before his solo series was discontinued. In #71, his people came to Earth for him, he left with them to found and become leader of New Mars. Over the next 15 years, J'onzz appeared sporadically in various DC titles. In 1972, Superman was teleported to New Mars. J'onzz returned to Earth by spaceship in 1975. J'onzz made another trip to Earth shortly thereafter, leading to Superman and Batman fighting alongside him on New Mars.
Three years he was discovered playing cosmic-level chess with Despero, using JLA-ers as the pieces. The Martian again encountered Superman in outer space, he permanently resurfaced in the DC Universe in 1984. Shortly thereafter, the League had several members resign, leaving an opening for the Manhunter to take. In staying on Earth, he decided to revive his John Jones identity, this time as a private detective, but had to explain his 20-year "disappearance". In early 1987, DC revamped its struggling Justice League of America series by re-launching the title as Justice League; this new series, written by Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis with art by Kevin Maguire, added quirky humor to the team's stories. J'onzz is present from the first issue and within the stories is used as a straight man for other characters in comical situations; the series added a number of elements to his back story that have remained to the present. The 1988 four-issue miniseries Martian Manhunter by J. M. DeMatteis and Mark Badger further redefined the character and changed a number of important
Dick Dillin
Richard Allen "Dick" Dillin was an American comics artist best known for a 12-year run as the penciler of the DC Comics superhero-team series Justice League of America. He drew 115 issues from 1968 until his death in 1980. Dick Dillin was born in New York. Determined since childhood to draw for comics, Dillin graduated from Watertown High School to become an art student at Syracuse University on the G. I. Bill, following his military service with the 8th U. S. Army in Tokyo and Okinawa. Sometime after marrying wife Estella in 1948, Dillin left his job at a Watertown manufacturer of air brakes for trains, sought an art career in New York City. Six months after having done magazine illustration and other commercial art and gaining a foothold at Fawcett Comics and Fiction House, he relocated his family to suburban Peekskill, New York. Dillin's art at Fawcett and Fiction House led to drawing for Quality Comics, beginning in 1952, he worked on the popular title Blackhawk but on G. I. Combat, Love Confessions, Love Secrets.
When Quality went out of business, searching for new work tried DC Comics where he saw one or more issues of Blackhawk on the desk as he was being interviewed, to his relief was told, "We've been trying to get in touch with you." Dillin returned to Blackhawk, now a DC property, when the book's initial run ended, went on to draw issues of World's Finest Comics before being assigned Justice League of America, a superteam series featuring, at the time, Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, the Atom. Dillin penciled the series from #64–183, except for the planned reprint issues #67, 76, 85 and 93, he had completed the first 2 1/2 pages of # 184. Dillin's tenure on JLA included the reintroduction of Red Tornado, he and writer Dennis O'Neil made several changes to the membership of the JLA by removing founding members Wonder Woman and the Martian Manhunter. They oversaw the migration of the Black Canary from Earth-2 to Earth-1. Dillin and writer Len Wein produced the return of the Seven Soldiers of Victory in issues #100–102 and the introduction of the Quality Comics characters to the DC continuity as the Freedom Fighters in issues #107–108.
In late 1972, Dillin drew the DC chapter of a metafictional unofficial crossover crafted by writers Wein, Steve Englehart, Gerry Conway spanning titles from both major comics companies. Each comic featured Englehart and Wein, as well as Wein's first wife Glynis, interacting with Marvel or DC characters at the Rutland Halloween Parade in Rutland, Vermont. Beginning in Amazing Adventures #16, the story continued in Justice League of America #103, concluded in Thor #207. Wein and Dillin created the supervillain Libra in Justice League of America #111, who would play a leading role in Grant Morrison's Final Crisis storyline in 2008. Dillin drew the return of Wonder Woman to the team in issues #128–129, he and writer Steve Englehart crafted a new origin story for the JLA in issue #144 and inducted Hawkgirl into the team two issue later. Other highlights of Dillin's tenure included the 1976 integration of the defunct and newly acquired Fawcett Comics heroes in issues #135-137, the murder of the original Mister Terrific in issue #171.
Dillin and writer Bob Haney created the Super-Sons, Superman Jr. and Batman Jr. in World's Finest Comics #215. He drew several Green Lantern backup stories in The Flash from 1974 to 1977. In 1975, Dillin drew the framing chapters for a 1940s Seven Soldiers of Victory script in Adventure Comics #438 and 443, he was living in New York at the time of his death. As per the letters page of Justice League of America #184, Dillin suffered a heart attack. Dillin drew animation storyboards for the Trans-Lux/Joe Orolio syndicated TV series Johnny Zero, The Mighty Hercules, among other shows. Comics work includes: Blackhawk #37, 40, 64–65, 67–107 Plastic Man #45 Justice League of America Archives Volume 8 collects Justice League of America #64–66, 68–70 ISBN 978-1563899775 Volume 9 collects Justice League of America #71–80 ISBN 978-1401204020 Volume 10 collects Justice League of America #81–93 ISBN 978-1401234126 Showcase Presents Justice League of America Volume 4 collects Justice League of America #64–66, 68–75, 77–83 ISBN 978-1401221843 Volume 5 collects Justice League of America #84, 86–92, 94–106 ISBN 978-1401230258 Volume 6 collects Justice League of America #107–132 ISBN 978-1401238353 Crisis on Multiple Earths Volume 2 collects Justice League of America #64–65, 73–74, 82–83 ISBN 978-1401200039 Volume 3 collects Justice League of America #91–92, 100–102, 107–108, 113 ISBN 978-1401202316 Volume 4 collects Justice League of America #123–124, 135–137, 147–148 ISBN 978-1401209575 Volume 5 collects Justice League of America #159–160, 171–172, 183 ISBN 978-1401226237 "Dick Dillin:1928–1980".
The Comics Journal: 15. April 1980. ISSN 0194-7869. Dick Dillin at Mike's Amazing World of Comics
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