A Left-Field Idea About the Future
March 20th, 2008 by Gavok | Tags: Batman, booster gold, cable, DC comics, geoff johns, jsa, justice league, justice society, supermanEarlier tonight I was in the middle of a conversation about how many Cable archetypes there are in comics and this little idea clicked in my head. It’s silly, but I can’t shake the need to at least give it a mention.
DC has been playing around with Kingdom Come a lot lately. I haven’t been reading Justice Society of America, but I know Starman is from that reality and they’ve been using a good amount of heroes and villains from that story since the new volume started up. Most notably KC Superman and Gog from Kingdom. Geoff Johns writes JSA and is also a co-writer of Booster Gold.
Recently, Booster Gold introduced the title character’s father. He never showed up in Booster’s old series, including his issue of Secret Origins, but I suppose something was suspect about his lack of appearance mixed with Booster choosing never to bring him up. Now he’s in league with Per Degaton, an old school Despero, Ultra-Humanite and the mysterious Black Beetle. What they’re planning isn’t exactly known.
When he was teaming up with corrupt time-traveler Rex Hunter, Booster Sr. (I don’t recall ever seeing his name) was out to undo the destinies of the Justice League so that he could use time travel to his advantage and become the ultimate superhero. Think about that. He wanted Superman, Batman and all the rest out of the way so that he could be the top hero. He’s totally missing the point about what being a superhero is about and it’s set to someday blow up in his face. Sound familiar?
Not just that, but notice the short, white hair and scar going down his right eye. Seemingly based on Cable, just like another DC character.
What I’m wondering is if Geoff Johns has any intentions on somehow taking this guy…
…and having him change costumes so he can someday be this guy…
I’m not saying that this is going to happen. I’m not even certain if I want it to happen. All I’m saying is that if it does happen, I totally called it. Just throwing that out there.
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I liked Gog more before he became a crazy bad guy in The Kingdom. I liked the broody guy who was in KC. Still your theory seems plausible enough given Johns’ writing tics…
In Kingdom Come, I must admit I liked the way they used the guy. His confrontation with Superman in the barren wastes of Kansas was simply good drama.
What do you mean by Cable archetypes, though? Any other examples? I think the KC Gog was intentionally drawn that way to mirror Cable, but other than him, who else did you see?
I can’t remember the whole list, but partially cyborg guys with pouches and glowing eyes. Guys like Shatterstar and the like. It was more of a joke thing.
I should point out that Gog and Magog are two different characters. They just happen to look a lot alike for some unrevealed reason.
And yeah, the “You must be proud”/”GOD DAMN YOU!” scene in Kingdom Come was absolutely brilliant.
That’s an interesting call. I could almost see it happening. Or maybe they’re the same person from different universes. Probably just coincidence, but their noses look very similar.
Also, Starman’s from some version of the future, he just managed to stop in Earth-KC for a little bit before making his way to New Earth.
Cable Archetypes:
Time-travelers (Or aliens), glowing eye, grim expression on face. Obvious shiny bionics are an option. A multiplicity of pouches, (never used) are also an option.
White hair a bonus.
Using those criteria you can probably come up with at least three or four that are x-men related alone.
I’m not sure I’d call Booster’s old man a Cable Archetype. He’s a time-traveler because he’s the villain in a time travel book, and, yes, he’s got an eye missing, but it’s not glowing. He doesn’t ooze enough XTREEEEEEEME to qualify as a Cable Archetype to me.
As for his name, it hasn’t been mentioned in the book yet (and trust me: I’ve been looking), but this interview gives it as Jonar. The relative trustworthiness of the interview is debatable, of course, but it seems like the kind of thing Johns wouldn’t have bothered including if it wasn’t accurate.
I recall Katz stating in an interview that Black Beetle vaguely resembled the Kingdom Come Beetle on purpose (though I don’t really see all that much resemblance myself), though, for what it’s worth. I doubt Jonar’s Gog, myself. Seems, well, unnecessary. And Gog was at least trying to be heroic, while Jonar’s really not. Also their scars are different lengths. Totally infallible evidence!
I hope the guy you described isn’t the guy from KC. Magog, even if he was meant to be an uncharitable stand-in for everything that was wrong with the ’90s who didn’t serve any purpose other than to be the strawman evidence for KC’s thesis, deserves better than to be used in some weird plot that seems to miss what little point there was to the character.
I think you called it, given DC’s tendency to tie as much into Kingdom Come as possible.
And I definitely don’t like it.
wasn’t there at some point an invarnation of Rip Hunter who is pretty much exactly Cable? White hair, and metal limbs and everything? The only reason I think this is because of a picture of him in my DC Encyclopedia.
I always loved the design of the KC Magog, with the whole idea of the golden cafe/false idol compared to the true christ in Superman. It’s a shame they could never figure out anything to do with him or his lineage after that.
@zodberg: That’s Rip Hunter’s Linear Men incarnation, but seeing as how the linear men seemed to have been changed in the recent Atom issues, that must have been wiped from continuity.
I never really got how he became that incarnation, though.
Just curious, is anyone actually reading the current Justice Society of America arc? I know it’s fun to kneejerk bash Geoff Johns, but considering he’s cowriting it with Alex Ross based on existing notebooks of Kingdom Come back continuity, I don’t really think it’s fair to say they’re misusing or misinterpreting the character.
I’ve been reading and enjoying it. I think it’s hard to claim they’re misusing a character whose entire history is a couple Elseworlds/Earth-whatever stories, and then a Superman story.