Quarter Bin #46. "Excavating the Past"

Disclaimer: Comics featured in "Quarter Bin" are not necessarily from an actual quarter bin.  This is a column about back issues.

Doom Patrol #50 (DC)
From December 1991:
Until now I'd never read Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol, which serves as an important piece in his mainstream canon, one of the titles that helped make his name in American comics after Animal Man and before The Invisibles and JLA.  Doom Patrol was part of the era where DC was formulating its Vertigo line, although it carried the classic DC bullet, and has since been considered a Vertigo series.  As such, because the prevailing theme of Vertigo at the time was a surreal approach to established if obscure DC properties, Morrison had his first chance to be as surreal as possible.  Moreso than even the famous Buddy Baker meeting his maker moment (Grant Morrison himself), this was Morrison establishing his reputation as a maverick creator.  This particular issue is all about drug culture, both the creation of LSD and the effects of a person's perception of reality.  Although the team faces a version of the foes originally confronted in the memorably titled collection The Painting That Ate Paris, that's what dominates the story, which is part and parcel of the occult reputation Morrison was actively creating for himself at the time.  It might be noted that Doom Patrol was DC's X-Men before Marvel even had X-Men, much as the Challengers of the Unknown were DC's Fantastic Four before Marvel had Fantastic Four.  This particular story isn't the best way to be introduced to the team, though it's certainly amusing if you have enough knowledge about both Doom Patrol and Morrison.  Although if you simply like your comics weird, you will appreciate it anyway.

Green Lantern: Mosaic #14 (DC)
From July 1993:
Gerard Jones may have been the most valuable writer that DC had that no one but DC ever appreciated.  He was the major writer of the Green Lantern franchise before anyone properly appreciated the fact that Green Lantern was a major DC franchise.  He spearheaded the first Hal Jordan revival (in other words the series that was in effect when Hal went Parallax in "Emerald Twilight"), made Guy Gardner into a solo star, and also wrote Green Lantern: Mosaic.  I'm not sure how many fans still exist who obsess over Mosaic, and I'm not even sure I can properly identify myself as one of them, but a quirk of fate has kept me fascinated by it for years.  Prior to this, I had only ever read the first issue, which by that quirk and how I was reading comics at the time (in giant and really awesome monthly roundup collections from Sam's Club and smaller but equally awesome ones from Toys 'R' Us) I found myself in the possession of two copies.  It's a rare comic that I read several times.  It was completely unlike anything else I was reading at the time.  After reading this issue, I think I finally can intepret exactly what Mosaic was really like.  It was as mainstream a Vertigo title as fans ever got.  (Well, except in the New 52.)  That's what it really was.  It was Gerard Jones making himself a Vertigo series based on the Green Lantern franchise.  And this realization makes it that much easier for me to request that Mosaic finally be rediscovered and appreciated for the experience it really was.  I can only imagine what Green Lantern fans thought at the time.  Mosaic starred John Stewart, the Green Lantern constantly riddled with self-doubt, on special assignment, trying to govern a melting pot community on Oa, filled with the most exotic alien species imaginable.  It was truly Jones at the height of his powers.  Unfortunately, this is also one of the last issues, because as I suggested, fans really didn't know what to make of it.  Would Mosaic have succeeded if it'd had the Vertigo imprint on the cover?  Well, as I said, it's never too late to find out.

Guy Gardner Reborn #3 (DC)
From 1992:
At this point Guy Gardner was far better known as a pesky member of the Justice League whom Batman knocked out with one punch (a moment Geoff Johns revisited in Green Lantern: Rebirth) than as a member of the Green Lantern Corps.  Still, Gardner was a Green Lantern when he was in the League during that memorable time, and he was also a part of the revival of Green Lantern (after several years of Green Lantern Corps and no Green Lantern), as Hal Jordan struggled in his first comeback.  Guy Gardner Reborn features Guy without a ring, until this issue, which is pretty historic. It features him claiming Sinestro's yellow ring for himself.  This was before Geoff Johns explained the exact significance of the yellow ring, so for the next few years Guy and the yellow ring was just Guy slinging yellow constructs instead of green ones.  He was just Guy.  He didn't have anything in particular to do with fear.  Sinestro at the time appeared to be dead.  He was dead again when Hal snapped his neck, and made a memorable appearance from the grave during Hal's Spectre, well before Geoff's own revival and elevation.  This issue also features a full-scale Qwardian invasion of Oa featuring the Thunderers, and appearances by signature members of the Corps as it was at that time.  Guy also wears a belly shirt for some reason.  Did I mention that this was written by Gerard Jones?  Like I said, the dude deserves a lot more recognition than he gets, even if Green Lantern did not become popular until Parallax, Ron Marz and Kyle Rayner.  Jones laid the foundation for what was lost in "Emerald Twilight."  And he literally made a franchise, and quite a fascinating one.  Guy's series lasted far longer than Mosaic, and saw him eventually ditch the yellow ring in favor of alien DNA that gave him a new set of powers as well as the new name Warrior.  And then of course he later rejoined the Corps, where he remains the lovable hothead.

Hawkman #19 (DC)
From November 2003:
Just as he currently writes Justice League and Aquaman, Geoff Johns ten years earlier wrote JSA and Hawkman.  His run on Hawkman has been overlooked by history, possibly because Hawkman as a property is memorable but forgettable at the same time.  He's the hero the nineteenth century would have loved, but more contemporary fans have a hard time wrapping their heads around.  Hawkman is connected to Egyptian mythology, he and Hawkgirl reincarnated lovers throughout the ages (a bit like the film Hancock) who also have ties to the Thanagarians, and thus an odd mix of sci-fi and mythology no writer has successfully blended.  (Ironically, this is the exact thing Geoff has done in Aquaman.)  At the time, Hawkman was merely a spin-off from Geoff's success making the Justice Society relevant again, featuring the famous bruiser with wings and a mace in his own adventures, his return one of the biggest stories of JSA.  I chose this issue to sample because it features Black Adam, who was one of the main reasons why 52 became my favorite comic book of all time, the villain turned antihero who tried redeeming himself for the sake of love, but in his own context and on his own terms.  Actually, Black Adam was another character Geoff helped elevate in JSA, and the start of the arc concluded in 52 began there and continued in this issue, as Hawkman visits his Middle East nation and witnesses as Black Adam makes the first vow on the road to his most distinguished period.  (There was a Black Adam mini-series that followed 52 that was equally fascinating, but suffice to say I would read more Black Adam in a heartbeat, and not just in the Shazam backup feature in Geoff's Justice League.)  This issue actually does a pretty good job of selling the series, making it more distinguished and interesting than its lack of reputation suggests.  I suppose that since Geoff was also working on JSA, The Flash, and even The Avengers at the time, some fans simply assumed he didn't have much left to say in Hawkman.  They were wrong.