Crossover comic book storyline
"DC One Million"
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Cover of
DC One Million
(1999), trade paperback collected edition, art by
Val Semeiks
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Publisher
| DC Comics
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Publication date
| November
1998
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Genre
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Title(s)
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DC One Million
#1?4
Action Comics
#1,000,000
Batman: Shadow of the Bat
#1,000,000
Nightwing
#1,000,000
Green Lantern
#1,000,000
Power of Shazam
#1,000,000
Young Justice
#1,000,000
Batman
#1,000,000
Superman: The Man of Steel
#1,000,000
Starman
#1,000,000
Impulse
#1,000,000
Green Arrow
#1,000,000
Legionnaires
#1,000,000
Azrael
#1,000,000
Superman
(vol. 2) #1,000,000
Superboy
#1,000,000
Detective Comics
#1,000,000
JLA
#1,000,000
Aquaman
#1,000,000
Wonder Woman
#1,000,000
Chase
#1,000,000
Creeper
#1,000,000
Martian Manhunter
#1,000,000
Adventures of Superman
#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
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Main character(s)
| Justice League of America
Justice Legion Alpha
Solaris
Vandal Savage
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Writer(s)
| Grant Morrison
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Penciller(s)
| Val Semeiks
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Inker(s)
| Prentis Rollins
Jeff Albrecht
Del Barras
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Colorist(s)
| Pat Garrahy (Heroic Age)
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DC One Million
| ISBN
1-56389-525-0
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"
DC One Million
" is a
comic book
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 will have published issue #1,000,000 of
Action Comics
if it maintains a regular monthly publishing schedule. The miniseries was written by
Grant Morrison
and drawn by
Val Semeiks
.
[1]
Set-up
[
edit
]
The core of the event was a four-issue miniseries, in which the 20th-century
Justice League of America
and the 853rd-century
Justice Legion Alpha
cooperate to defeat a plot by the supervillain
Vandal Savage
(who, as an immortal, lives to the far flung century) and future
Superman
nemesis
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
[
edit
]
In the 853rd century, the original
Superman
("Superman-Prime One Million")
still lives
, but has spent over 15,000 years in self-imposed exile deep within his
Fortress of Solitude
, located at the heart of the Sun, in order to keep it alive. During this time of absence, everyone he knew and loved died one by one. One of his descendants is "
Kal Kent
", the Superman of the 853rd century.
The galaxy in this far future is protected by the Justice Legions, which were inspired by the 20th-century
Justice League
and the 31st-century
Legion of Super-Heroes
, among others.
Justice Legion Alpha
, which protects the solar system, includes
Kal Kent
and future analogues of
Wonder Woman
, the
Hourman
,
Starman
,
Aquaman
, the
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
Russia
,
Vandal Savage
single-handedly defeats the
Titans
(
Arsenal
,
Tempest
,
Jesse Quick
and
Supergirl
) when they attempt to stop him from purchasing nuclear-powered
Rocket Red
suits. He then launches four Rocket Red suits (with a Titan trapped inside each of the four) in a nuclear strike on
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
Steel
realize the significance of the symbol they both wear; as the
Huntress
had pointed out to Steel earlier, wearing the 'S' means that he has to make the hard choices. The two JLAs are eventually able to stop the virus when it is discovered that it is a complex
computer program
looking for appropriate hardware. To provide this hardware, the heroes are forced to build the body of Solaris (including in it a
DNA
sample of Superman's wife
Lois Lane
) and the virus flees from Earth to this body, bringing Solaris to life. In a final act of repentance, the future Starman sacrifices himself to banish Solaris from the Solar System. The future Superman forces himself through time using confiscated time travel technology he finds in the
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
kryptonite
on Mars (where it was left by the future Starman back in the 20th century), which he gives to Solaris. Savage has also hired
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
Mars
to
Earth
using the stolen Time-Gauntlets. It turns out, however, that Walker Gabriel and Mitch Shelley, the
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
[
edit
]
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
[
edit
]
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
Titans
. Members include
Nightwing
(a bat-like humanoid),
Aqualad
(a humanoid made from water),
Troy
(a younger version of the 853rd century Wonder Woman),
Arsenal
(a robot) and
Joto
(killed in a teleporter accident).
- Justice Legion L
is based on the
Legion of Super-Heroes
and protects an artificially created planetary system (all that remains of the 30th Century United Planets). Members include Cosmicbot (a cyborg based on magnetism, modelled on
Cosmic Boy
), Titangirl (the combined psychic energy of all
Titanians
, based on
Saturn Girl
), Implicate Girl (who contains the abilities of all three trillion Carggites in her "third eye", very loosely based on
Triplicate Girl
), Brainiac 417 (a disembodied intelligence, based on
Brainiac 5
and
Apparition
), the M'onelves (who combine the powers of
M'onel
and
Shrinking Violet
) and barely humanoid versions of
Umbra
and
Chameleon
.
- Justice Legion S
consists of numerous
Superboy clones
, all with different powers. Members include Superboy 820 (with aquatic powers), Superboy 3541 (who can increase his size) and Superboy One Million (who can channel any of their powers through "the Eye"). They all (most notably One Million) resemble
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
[
edit
]
Several other futuristic versions of DC characters appeared in the crossover, including:
Later references
[
edit
]
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.
Grant Morrison
's
All-Star Superman
miniseries made several references to the
DC One Million
miniseries. The Superman from
DC One Million
makes an appearance and the series ends with Superman becoming an energy being who resides in the Sun after his body has been supercharged with yellow solar energy (similar in appearance to Superman-Prime) and
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
[
edit
]
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
[
edit
]
- DC One Million
, later reprinted with the title
JLA: One Million
(208 pages, DC Comics, June 1999,
ISBN
1-56389-525-0
,
Titan Books
, June 1999,
ISBN
1-84023-094-0
, DC Comics, June 2004,
ISBN
1-4012-0320-5
) collects:
- DC One Million
(by
Grant Morrison
, with pencils by
Val Semeiks
and inks by Prentis Rollins/Jeff Albrecht/Del Barras, four-issue miniseries)
- Green Lantern
#1,000,000 (by
Ron Marz
, with pencils by
Bryan Hitch
and inks by
Andy Lanning
/
Paul Neary
)
- Resurrection Man
#1,000,000 (by
Dan Abnett
/
Andy Lanning
, with art by
Jackson Guice
)
- Starman
#1,000,000 (by
James Robinson
, with pencils by
Peter Snejbjerg
and inks by
Wade Von Grawbadger
)
- JLA
#1,000,000 (by
Grant Morrison
, with pencils by
Howard Porter
and inks by John Dell)
- Superman: The Man of Tomorrow
#1,000,000 (by
Mark Schultz
, with pencils by
Georges Jeanty
and inks by
Dennis Janke
/
Denis Rodier
)
- Detective Comics
#1,000,000 (by
Chuck Dixon
, with pencils by
Greg Land
and inks by Drew Geraci)
- DC One Million Omnibus
(1,080 pages, DC Comics, October 2013,
ISBN
978-1-4012-4243-5
) collects:
[4]
- DC One Million
#1?4, plus the #1,000,000 issues of
Action Comics
,
Adventures Of Superman
,
Aquaman
,
Azrael
,
Batman
,
Batman: Shadow Of The Bat
,
Catwoman
,
Chase
,
Chronos
,
The Creeper
,
Detective Comics
,
The Flash
,
Green Arrow
,
Green Lantern
,
Hitman
,
Impulse
,
JLA
,
Legion of Super-Heroes
,
Legionnaires
,
Lobo
,
Martian Manhunter
,
Nightwing
,
Power Of Shazam
,
Resurrection Man
,
Robin
,
Starman
,
Superboy
,
Supergirl
,
Superman
(vol. 2),
Superman: The Man of Steel
,
Superman: The Man of Tomorrow
,
Wonder Woman
and
Young Justice
; as well as
Booster Gold
#1,000,000,
DC One Million 80-Page Giant
#1 and
Superman/Batman
#79?80 (the
Omnibus
did not include the #1,000,000 issue of
Young Heroes in Love
, as it was a creator-owned series).
References
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]
External links
[
edit
]
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2000 AD
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DC Comics
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Marvel Comics
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Vertigo
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Boom! Studios
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Early work
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Notable characters
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Related articles
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1980s
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1990s
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2000s
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