DC One Million

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"DC One Million"
Cover of DC One Million (1999), trade paperback collected edition, art by Val Semeiks.
PublisherDC Comics
Publication dateNovember 1998
Genre
Title(s)
DC One Million #1–4
Action Comics #1,000,000
Batman: Shadow of the Bat #1,000,000
Nightwing #1,000,000
Resurrection Man #1,000,000
Catwoman #1,000,000
Robin #1,000,000
Flash #1,000,000
Supergirl #1,000,000
Superman: The Man of Tomorrow
#1,000,000
Chronos #1,000,000
Young Heroes in Love #1,000,000
Lobo #1,000,000
Hitman #1,000,000
Legion of Super-Heroes #1,000,000
Booster Gold #1,000,000
Main character(s)
ISBN 1-56389-525-0

"DC One Million" is a

crossover storyline which ran through an eponymous weekly miniseries and through special issues of almost all of the "DCU" titles published by DC Comics in November 1998. It featured a vision of the DC Universe in the 853rd century (85,201–85,300 AD), chosen because that is the century in which DC would have published issue #1,000,000 of Action Comics if it had maintained a regular monthly publishing schedule. The miniseries was written by Grant Morrison and drawn by Val Semeiks.[1]

Set-up

The core of the event was a four-issue miniseries, in which the 20th-century

Solaris the Living Sun. Thirty-four other series then being published by DC also put out a single issue numbered #1,000,000, which either showed its characters' involvement in the central plot or gave a glimpse of what its characters' descendants/successors would be doing in the 853rd century. Hitman #1,000,000 was essentially a parody
of the entire storyline. A trade paperback collection was subsequently published consisting of the four-issue mini-series and the tie-in issues that were necessary to follow the main plot. The series was then followed by a one-shot issue titled DC One Million 80-Page Giant #1,000,000 (1999), which was a collection of further adventures in the life of the future heroes.

Plot

In the 853rd century, the original

Kal Kent
", the Superman of the 853rd century.

The galaxy is protected by the Justice Legions, which were inspired by the 20th-century

Flash and Batman
. Advanced terraforming processes have made all the Solar System's planets habitable, with the ones most distant from the Sun being warmed by Solaris, a "star computer" which was once a villain but was reprogrammed by one of Superman's descendants.

Superman-Prime announces that he will soon return to humanity and, to celebrate, Justice Legion Alpha travels back in time to the late 20th century to meet Superman's original teammates in the JLA and bring them and Superman to the future to participate in games and displays of power as part of the celebration.

Meanwhile, in

Washington D.C., Metropolis, Brussels and Singapore
.

One member of the Justice Legion Alpha (the future

Starman) has been bribed into betraying his teammates by Solaris, which has returned to its old habits. Before the original heroes can be returned to their own time, the future Hourman android collapses and releases a virus programmed by Solaris to attack machines
and humans.

The virus affects the guidance systems of the Rocket Red suits and causes one of them to instead detonate over Montevideo, killing over 1 million people. Tempest (the Titan inside) had escaped long before the suit exploded by using the ice that formed on the suit at high altitude, although he subsequently blacked out and fell into the sea. The virus also drives humans insane, causing an increase in anger and paranoia worldwide. Believing that this was deliberately planned by the JLA to stop him, Savage launches an all-out war on superhumans using "blitz engines" he had created and hidden while allied with Hitler during World War II. The paranoia caused by the virus also leads the Justice Legion Alpha and the contemporary heroes to attack each other, although the Justice Legion Alpha manage to coordinate themselves enough to stop the other Rocket Red suits from hitting their targets.

The remnants of the JLA that stayed in the present and the Justice Legion Alpha overcome their paranoia when the future Superman and

Watchtower
, almost dying in the process due to the drain on his powers.

Meanwhile, in the 853rd century, the original JLA are fighting an alliance between Solaris and Vandal Savage. Savage has found a sample of

Walker Gabriel
to steal the time travel gauntlets of the 853rd century Flash (John Fox) to ensure the Justice Legion Alpha remains trapped in the past, but ultimately double-crosses Gabriel.

Solaris, in a final attack, slaughters thousands of superhumans so that it can fire the kryptonite into the sun and kill Superman-Prime before he emerges. The JLA's Green Lantern — a hero who uses a power that Solaris has never encountered before — causes Solaris to go supernova and he and the 853rd century Superman contain the resulting blast — but not before the kryptonite is released.

The future Vandal Savage teleports from

Resurrection Man
(an immortal who had become Savage's greatest foe through the millennia), had sabotaged the Gauntlets so that Savage, instead of travelling only in space, also travels through time, arriving in Montevideo moments before the nuclear blast he caused centuries earlier, finally bringing his life to an end.

It is then revealed that a secret conspiracy — forewarned by the trouble in the 20th century, mainly in that the Huntress, inspired by the time capsules which students in her class were currently making, realized they had centuries to foil the plot — has spent the intervening centuries coming up with a foolproof plan for stopping Solaris. Their actions included replacing the hidden kryptonite with a disguised

Green Lantern power ring
, with which the original Superman emerges from the Sun and finishes off Solaris.

In the aftermath, the original Superman and the future Hourman use the DNA sample to recreate Lois Lane, complete with superpowers. Superman then also recreates Krypton, along with all its deceased inhabitants, in Earth's Solar system, and lives happily ever after with Lois.

Later, in the miniseries The Kingdom, it is established that this timeline is merely one of many possibilities and thus not definite due to the mutable effects of Hypertime.

Crossovers

Alongside the main DC One Million miniseries and the accompanying 80-Page Giant issue, the following ongoing DC Comics books also partook in the event:

The Justice Legions

There are 24 Justice Legions, each based on 20th- and 30th-century superhero teams. Those featured include:

  • Justice Legion A is based on the Justice League.
  • Justice Legion B is based on the
    Joto
    (killed in a teleporter accident).
  • Justice Legion L is based on the
    Chameleon
    .
  • Justice Legion S consists of numerous
    OMAC
    as much as Superboy. This was an intentional pun, as the title of the story was "One Million And Counting", which referred to the 1 million clones and formed the OMAC acronym.
  • Justice Legion T is based on Young Justice. Members include Superboy One Million (as referred to above), Robin the Toy Wonder (an optimistic robot sidekick to the 853rd century Batman) and Impulse (the living embodiment of random thoughts lost in the Speed Force).
  • Justice Legion Z (for Zoomorphs) is based on the Legion of Super-Pets. Members include Proty One Million and Master Mind. A version of Comet the Super-Horse is also a member.

Other characters

Several other futuristic versions of DC characters appeared in the crossover, including:

Later references

In 2008, 10 years after the crossover, an issue of Booster Gold (vol. 2) was published as Booster Gold #1,000,000 and was announced as an official DC One Million tie-in by DC Comics. This comic introduced Peter Platinum, the Booster Gold of the 853rd century.

Solaris
makes an appearance as well.

Morrison's Batman #700 also briefly shows the One Million Batman and his sidekick—Robin, the Toy Wonder—alongside a number of future iterations of Batman.

The One Million Batman, Robin the Toy Wonder and One Million Superman play a significant role in Superman/Batman #79–80, in which Epoch battles Batmen and Supermen from various time periods.

By signing into WBID account in the video game Batman: Arkham Origins, the costume of the One Million version of Batman will be unlocked for use.[2]

Awards

The original miniseries was a top vote-getter for the

Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Limited Series for 1999. The storyline was a top vote-getter for the Comics Buyer's Guide Award for Favorite Story for 1999.[3]

Collected editions

References

  1. ^ "DC ONE MILLION OMNIBUS". DC. 2013-05-13. Retrieved 2021-07-13.
  2. ^ "Batman: Arkham Origins gets free One Million & Red Son skins for WBID registration". Shacknews. 22 October 2013. Retrieved 2021-07-13.
  3. ^ "17th Annual Comic Buyers Guide Fan Awards (1999)". www.hahnlibrary.net. Retrieved 2021-07-13.
  4. ^ DC One Million Omnibus at DCComics.com. Accessed 13 March 2017.

External links

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