#gidgeguide

[angel-gidget]

Gidge's Guide to Amethyst

I did one of these a while back, but with reeaallly low-quality images. These days, there’s more Amethyst stuff out there, and that’s worth an update in its own right.

Amy’s first appearance was technically in Legion of Super-Heroes #298 which featured a “pull-out preview comic” to entice people into picking up the maxi-series. I’ve yet to get my mitts on it to confirm if it’s just sample art from the maxi-series, or has dialogue/art never seen anywhere else. Regardless, your best starting point is probably gonna be…

I. 1980’s 12-issue Maxi-Series (+ follow-up Annual)

High jump-through-portal fantasy. Fantastic creatures, creepy villains, magical royalty, intricate world building that explains some things and lets your brain fill in the gaps for others, and consistently gorgeous art. Can’t recommend enough.

The annual shown takes place after the maxi-series and sets the stage for the ongoing series that follows.

Get it by Patron methods: Dc Universe Series Page DC’s Showcase via Amazon or Abe Books (Note: no color art for showcase, only black & white)

Get it by Peasant methods: Over here. 💎

II. 1980’s 16-issue Ongoing Series (+ follow-up Annual)

While there is a lot of fantastic stuff going on with the ongoing series, it is more of a mixed bag.

While I am forever in love with cover of issue #11, I remember turning to page 1 and wondering what the heck happened to the inside art. It’s not bad, really. It just doesn’t meet the high bar of the covers (or earlier interiors). Looking back, I realized the art was getting less detailed well before that, but my reading was all over the place as a kid bc I’d just read whatever issues I could find.

This here, at issue #12, is actually a good place to stop. By which I mean, the next 4 issues + special reek of grimdark edge-lord bs that doesn’t even make sense without reading Crisis on Infinite Earths. However, if you wish to proceed…

The final issue of the ongoing is technically a cliffhanger, and the Special grants the writers the extra pages they need to finish wrapping up their whole Lords of Order & Chaos/Dr. Fate tie-in.

After this, someone in DC editorial raised their pencil and went “Hey! What if we made the Gemworld the origin for one of our Legion of Super-Heroes villains?” And thus…

Get it by Patron methods: Dc Universe Series Page DC’s Showcase via Amazon or Abe Books (Note: no color art for showcase, only black & white) (Also note: Showcase contains both Maxi and Ongoing series)

Get it by Peasant methods: Over here. ⚔️

III. 1980’s 4-issue Mini-Series

This thing is all kinds of whack, but it is gorgeous. I get the impression that when Kieth Giffen and Mindy Newell were assigned this sucker, they just read a summary of the OG series and winged it.

Probably not, since they technically wrote those final issues of the ongoing, but that’s how it feels. Despite this, it’s grown on me like a fungus, and the mind-blowing art by Esteban Moroto is, like, 98% of the reason why.

Amethyst is always at her weirdest when Dc is trying to tie her in with the rest of the DCU. In this case, the mini is supposed to explain how a Legion of Super-Heroes villain has origins that go back to the Gemworld. Why? Idk. But if I remember correctly, it was even part of the advertising for this series.

Get it by Patron methods: … you can’t. There are no re-prints of any kind and it’s tough to track down. If ye crave this treasure, best ye look to piracy, matey.

Get it by Peasant methods: Over here. 🔮

IV. 2012’s DC Nation Amethyst Cartoon Shorts

In hindsight, these may have been made as the advent of the Sword of Sorcery series, but they really were a charming sip of water after two decades of nothin’. A cute lil’ standalone series that turns the Gemworld into a video game. Amy is then, of course, sucked into it.

Fun fact: the producer, @briannedrouhard is on tumblr, and often posts art and further ideas she had for the series.

Watch it: Full Series is officially free on Youtube. 👸🏼

IV. 2013’s Sword of Sorcery: Amethyst

This New 52 eight-issue (9 included the ‘0’ issue, oy) series got my hopes up after all those years, but I gotta admit I was a bit disappointed by the completely new supporting cast. Apart from Amy herself, none of the original characters made it into the series.

It feels likely a completely different fantasy series with an “Amethyst” label slapped on it. That said, Aaron Lopresti’s art is beautiful, and this version of Amy—Amaya—eventually joined the New 52’s Justice League Dark and picked up a bit of a cult appreciation over there.

That said, I’ve had some spoilers for her time on JLDark, and the storyline is just a bit… too… dark for my tastes. So I’m quite content to see her nu52 series retconed, even though I did nearly collect all 9 issues.

Get it by Patron methods: Dc Universe Series Page TPB via Amazon or B&N

Get it by Peasant methods: Over here. 💜

V. 2019’s Wonder Comics - Young Justice: Gemworld

Remember how I said Amethyst always gets weird when she collides with the greater DCU? Yeah, forget I said that. Never mind. Most brilliant combo idea since peanut butter and jelly.

No, I’m not biased not at all bc I’m a big Young Justice fan. Nope. Ok. Maybe a lil’ bit. While the continuity here is it’s own thing, there are a lot of nods to the original Gemworld in the world-building.

Does this series fully explore the potential of all the ideas in it? Frankly, no. YJ fans complained a lot about the lack of breathing space in this series for a reason. But I’m still happy with it and happily re-reading it for the fun ideas it slaps together.

If you are reading this for the Amethyst, however, there isn’t much point in reading past issue 6, aka volume 1 of the trade. After that point, Amy stops getting much spotlight, though she remains on the team’s roster until the series’ end.

Get it by Patron methods: Dc Universe Series Page TPB via Amazon or B&N

Get it by Peasant methods: Over here. ✨

VI. 2020’s Wonder Comics - Amethyst Miniseries

The fact that both this series and the YJ one appear under the “Wonder Comics” label is a bit misleading. They do not share any continuity at all. However, the opening splash page of the first issue references multiple events from original Amethyst continuity!

Later world-building details make it clear that this is a different version of Amy and the Gemworld, but Amy Reeder’s affection for the original series remains apparent.

Get it by Patron methods: Dc Universe Series Page TPB via Amazon or B&N

Get it by Peasant methods: Over here. 👑

VII. 2021’s Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld by Shannon & Dean Hale

This one is actually a kid-oriented graphic novel. Again, with its own continuity and world-building. I think the thing that stands out to me the most about this take is that the Hales give Amy a kid brother and make him quite relevant to the plot.

It’s pretty stand-alone and not really marketed as a comic book per se, but it is charming and the art is quite cute.

Get it by Patron methods: Graphic novel via Amazon or B&N Get it by Peasant methods: Over here.

🏰

In Summary:

“Original” Amethyst Continuity (by Dan Mishkin & Gary Cohn and later Kieth Giffen & Mindy Newell ) is contained in Volumes 1-3. This is made of up the Maxi-series, Ongoing, and Mini-series from the 80's.

New52 Sword of Sorcery Continuity (by Christy Marx) is completely separate and self-contained.

Wonder Comics: Young Justice continuity (by Brian Michael-Bendis) is separate and self-contained, but has many nods to original continuity in it.

Wonder Comics: Amethyst mini-series continuity (by Amy Reeder) is mostly separate and self-contained, but implies that it shares events with the Volume 1 maxi-series.

Kid-friendly properties like Brianne Drouhard’s DC Nation shorts or Shannon and Dean Hale’s graphic novel make for fun additions, though they were not marketed as though they might tie in with any comics.

[angel-gidget]

Gidge's Intro to The Challengers of the Unknown

First off, who are the Challengers of the Unknown? They are a team of adventurers. Their comic originates in the late 1950's, and it ran until 1978, ending with issue #87.

Their adventures are supremely stereotypical of the time. They start off as very pulpy sci-fi fantasy in the 60's and skew more mystical/occult through the 70's. They functioned as Jack Kirby's rough draft for the Fantastic Four, but even so, have slightly different dynamics.

Origin: Four experts in their field concluded that their survival of a deadly plane crash was nothing short of miraculous. They noticed that the watch on one man's wrist had stopped, as if frozen in time. The men--Ace Morgan, Mark "Prof" Haley, Red Ryan, and Rocky Davis--concluded that they were living on borrowed time. They decided to use that time adventurously as the Challengers of the Unknown.

One of their earliest adventures caused them to seek the help of computer and robotics expert June Robbins. As June helped them save the day on more than one occasion, she became an honorary challenger. Many modern references to the roster include her by default.

The Team

Ace Morgan is portrayed as a pilot in the 60's and has his wheelhouse extended to astronaut as we veer into the 70's. Ace possesses an even keel that garners instinctive respect, and this is why he is the default leader.

Mark "Prof" Haley is their resident "egghead". Because nerds weren't cool yet, Prof gets occasionally teased about having more brains than brawn, but that's usually ended by him judo flipping whoever was talking smack.

Since 60's common knowledge didn't differentiate between a lot of sciences, Prof kinda knows them all. Since deep sea diving is his main schtick, he'd probably be introduced as a marine biologist today. The only thing that isn't his main wheelhouse is computers/robotics. There, he is very much outclassed by June.

Red Ryan is is a skillful acrobat and mountain climber. He is also an asshole. I mean this with affection or annoyance depending on the day. 90% of interpersonal drama with this team is from Red being sexist or generally shallow and opening his mouth about it. However, this is often used as a device, and the point is to show that Red is wrong. Then June or Rocky or whoever Red was poking at saves the day. He does occasionally use his snark to be actually funny, tho.

While many of Red's words tend to suck, his actions show a lot of loyalty to the team. Perhaps the most endearing thing about him is the love he has for his baby brother, which is major plot point of some arcs.

Rocky Davis is the team's gentle giant. He is an expert boxer and wrestler, and as such, is often teased for a lack of brains or looks. As sensitive as he may be about that, Rocky is no pushover, and will gladly attempt to punch whoever was giving him too much grief (usually Red).

In truth, all four of the men do poke fun at each other for being confined to their niche roles, but all of them actually do posses the ability to move beyond them.

They all pick up skills in science, fighting, and the arcane from working together. Pretty sure they were all born snarky, tho.

So who are my Top 3 Fave characters from their title?

#1. June Robins

June is a gal of many hairdos and many talents all through the 60's. A mistress of computer science, disguise, piloting, chemical experimentation, and alien diplomacy.

Sadly, as cool as she began, the 70's did not do her justice. She was gone from the team for like, half of that decade, and when she returned, they gave her some fandom bicycle drama and a lot of damsel in distress scenarios. But at least they gave her a uniform to show she was really on the team. I'll take that win.

#2. Tino Manary

Tino is introduced in a very fun way. When Red appears to die in the line of duty, a teen music celebrity begins to use all his fame and money to attempt an assassination of the remaining challengers. For revenge. Bc he blames them for Red's death. And why does he care?

Because surprise! He's Red's kid brother! Once he realizes the challs aren't to blame, he starts popping in on occasion to help them. Or just annoy them. Or both.

#3. Corinna Stark

When Prof got shot by an eldritch-summoning cult leader, he appeared to be at death's door. That's when the cultist's daughter, Corinna Stark, showed up. She stuck Prof in one of her dad's cryo-pods to save his life. She agreed that her dad was quite evil and needed to be stopped, provided the challs with new uniforms, and served the team as Prof's temporary replacement.

While she clearly knew more about the occult than the sciences, this proved pretty helpful for the things the challs were up against at the time.

Corrina was introduced in the 70's, during that time June was going mysteriously unmentioned. It's seriously a shame the ladies never met.

I suspect the writers were trying to see if Corinna could be a good replacement for June, but their expertise and origins were different enough that it would have been cool to see what they could bring to the team if they were on it simultaneously.

Am I done talking about this crazy comic? No, but I'm pausing for now.

[angel-gidget]

Gidge’s At-a-Glance Guide to DC Comics Continuity

(A Basic Intro that is Biased as Heck)

For ease of reading, all text of the powerpoint is included under the cut:

Gidge's At-a-Glance Guide to DC Comics Continuity

What a friggin’ lie. There is actually so much text to this. It’s not a “glance” hardly at all and I am sorry.

1950’s - 1970’s. In the Beginning

Comic writer's wrote comics bc fun! Adventure! Mythic characters! (Comic nerds call this “The Golden Age” and “The Silver Age”.)

And after... twenty years or so... writers and editors realized: Huh! When we tell stories with conflicting details about characters... people complain. A lot.

Maybe... we should tell stories that try to resolve some of these differences?

1985. Solution? Crisis!

There were temporary solutions, and attempts to just edit and write with more attention to detail… but in the end, editors went BIG.

So they had timey-whimey Spider-verse style story line (before “timey-whimey” was coined or “spider-verse” was a glimmer in Marvel’s eye.)They called this event “Crisis on Infinite Earths.”

Still 1985. Cha Cha Real Smooth

Basically: a big bunch of heroes get together to save their timeline. This finalizes what Actually Happened™ WITHIN the comic timeline.

The DC universe is BIG. They have lots of writers, characters, stories. Detail mismatches happen, man. But the continuity patch crossover is Epic, and it sells.

Image note: Why yes, you ARE looking at Uncle Sam, 2 Robins, and 1 daughter of Batman from an alternate universe. The times were rad.

2005. 2008. Cha Cha Again

So when enough continuity problems built up again, DC was like… y’know? That Crisis idea worked really well last time. Let’s just go again!

So it becomes A THING and meanwhile, Marvel is sitting with its convoluted history on the other side of the fence going “Well at least we don’t reset our continuity ever so many years like those OTHER guys.”

Circa 2009. Enter The Devil Didio

Head Honcho Editor in Chief Dan Didio decides that continuity patches via crisis are OUT. And total reboots of character history are IN.

He calls his crisis-that-is-not-a-crisis “Flashpoint” and tells all the DC writers to wrap up their story lines bc he’s about to throw 50+ years of the company’s life’s work into the garbage.

(No, I’m not still bitter about this after 13 yrs and counting, no not at all.)

2011. The New 52

DC ditches ALL of it’s ongoing titles to launch precisely 52 titles all starting at issue #1.

Everybody in the DC universe has brand new histories (and character- izations) that pretty much make NO sense.

But hey, at least the nuJustice League is drawn by Jim Lee, so everybody is lookin’ really, really pretty.

2016. DC Rebirth

Okay, guys. You can have SOME of your old continuity back. As a treat.

But not all of it. That would look like we’re admitting to a mistake or something. Can’t have THAT. No siree.

So… DC. How?? DO READ? What?

Despite EVERYTHING I just told you… don’t overthink it. Cool character? Go ahead and read. Cool cover? Pick it up if it moves you. You’re a smart cookie. You’ll figure it out.

New 52 is it’s own timeline.

Rebirth tries to squish nu52 and everything else together, kinda.

There are also Elseworlds (multiverse AU’s) But they will usually give you a heads up about what they are.

So just go forth and have fun, my dudes.

[angel-gidget]

⌖ Gidge's Guide to ℜobin 101: {2nd Edition, bc the first had dead links and other outdated info.}

Reminder: The linked Goodreads pages include not only purchase info, but also library look-up info. Always check your library first! People constantly underestimate the graphic novel goodness that can already be found for free on their local shelves.

Disclaimer: You can't read 'em all, so sometimes you just gotta pick. Some related storylines are excluded because I forgot 'em,  and some because I thought about it for all of 5 seconds and ended with “nah.” But this primer should definitely do ya. Also, the selection will quickly reveal the compiler's personal bias. You'll figure it out.

I. Robin: Year One | Where it all began! Here we meet Dick Grayson, the first Robin, the one most famously associated with the name. He does flips. He does tricks. He's adorable. [Goodreads | DCuniverse]

II. A Death in the Family | The (first) life and death of the second Robin, Jason Todd. Fun fact: Jason's death was a decision that was up for vote, and readers actually phoned in, leading to his death. The arc was written with two possible endings, depending on which way those phones ultimately rang. [Goodreads | DCuniverse] Note: Do not confuse this with Death OF the Family, which is a recent Joker storyline riffing its title off of the original.

III. A Lonely Place of Dying | In the wake of Jason's death, we meet our third Robin, Tim Drake. Otherwise known as the stalker Robin. Also, Gidge's darling favorite 4ever.  [Goodreads | DCuniverse] Note: Recent editions of A Death in the Family have sometimes put these two storylines together. So a more recent copy labeled "A Death in the Family" may contain this arc as well.

IV. Prodigal | In which Dick Grayson returns to Gotham to temporarily fill in as Batman while Tim is his Robin. Includes important brotherly bonding time.  [Goodreads | DCuniverse] Note: This was a Bat-book crossover storyline, hence the use of DCuniverse search. It has not recently been re-collected as a single trade, though older trade paperbacks exist.

V. Everything is Tim Drake and Nothing Hurts | Robin #3 was the first Robin to have his own solo ongoing title while under the *name* of Robin. For reasons. Read these reasons. Read about my starchild. [Goodreads Vol 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 | DCuniverse 1st miniseries, 2nd, 3rd, Ongoing ] Also, Timmers was on teams. Awesome teams. Including Young Justice [Goodreads | DCuniverse] and Teen Titans (version 3) [Goodreads | DCuniverse]. Did I just give you a giant mac truck of reading? Yes. Am I warning without remotely apologizing? Also yes. You can come back and savor it later. I'm just trying to post things for the most part in chronological order, dude.

VI. Stephanie Brown's Robin Arc | Ok, so the 4th Robin didn't exactly have a proper arc. She had various appearances, and her biggest storyline that has been collected into a volume was Batman: War Games. Said storyline was also her LAST one as Robin and ends pretty violently. If that doesn't sound very cheery, or strikes you as rather unfair, welcome to the Steph Zone.** [Goodreads | DCuniverse]

VII. Under the Hood | Ah, the fleeting nature of death in the DC universe! Jason Todd's eventful resurrection and path of daddy issues revenge. [Goodreads | DCuniverse] Note: Older editions of this storyline may divide it up into volume 1 & 2.

VIII. Batman & Son | In which we meet the only canonically biological spawn of Bruce's loins, Damian Wayne. The unbridled brat born to become Robin #5. [Goodreads | DCuniverse]

IX. Red Robin | Just when you thought I was done making you read about Tim Drake… Tim is fired! As Robin! By Dick! What a Dick! (okay, so not without reasons but still) Herein lies Tim Drake's coming of age story, outgrowing the shadow of Batman's cowl. [Goodreads | DCuniverse]

X. Batman & Robin | Aforementioned unbridled brat actually becomes Robin #5. And bonds with Robin #1. Who has become Batman. Again. For all Dick's talk about not wanting to be Batman, he seems to keep getting dragged into it a lot. [Goodreads | DCuniverse]

Extra Credit: The Dark Knight Returns | Featuring the most famous alternate universe robin ever, Carrie Kelley. Speaking in terms of major publishing history, also the first girl Robin, predating Steph by over a decade. [Goodreads & older edition | DCuniverse] ** Though lacking in links, This DCuniverse article includes checklists of both Carrie and Steph's appearances, for those seeking more thorough exposure.

[angel-gidget]

✨For @getcreative19, who asked about Amy Winston! :D