Who's Who in the DCU #10

 

Who's Who

The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #10 

(Dec 1985)

cover: Paris Cullins & Dick Giordano

writer/editor: Len Wein

contributing writer/consulting editor: Marv Wolfman

associate editor/researcher: Robert Greenberger

contributing writers: Paul Levitz, Mike W. Barr

contributing writers/researchers: E. Nelson Bridwell, Peter Sanderson

contributing writer/production: Todd Klein

colorists: Anthony Tollin, Len Wein, Tatjana Wood

proofreader: Brenda Pope

Featuring: 

The Human Bomb

Continuing our review of the six main Freedom Fighters' Who's Who pages from 1985-1987 (plus two more profiles for two more characters who were involved with the Fighters in a specific, meaningful way.) 

Human Bomb

Art by William Messner-Loebs

This is an interesting entry for a few reasons. First of all, and most obviously, the art is (arguably) not up to the standards of Murphy Anderson or Alex Saviuk. At this time, William Messner-Loebs was a writer-illustrator at Aardvark-Vanaheim Press, possibly known for his series "Journey" and "Welcome to Heaven, Dr. Franklin."  It was only later that he wrote more well-known series like Johnny Quest (for Comico), the Flash, Wonder Woman, and Hawkman. 

As a huge fan of the Human Bomb, it hurt my feelings to see him NOT drawn by somebody with a little bit more style like Murphy Anderson or Dick Ayers. However, your mileage may vary. Do YOU like this entry? 

Secondly, as mentioned before, because Who's Who was appearing concurrently with the Crisis, the earliest entries do NOT represent what eventually occurred in CRISIS #11. However, as of this entry Who's Who has "caught up" with the events of CRISIS. The last bit of the profile reads: The Human Bomb has returned to Earth-X with the Freedom Fighters and has survived the end of Earth-X in the so-called CRISIS. 

Another interesting thing about this profile's text piece is that it quite clearly gives the youthfulness of the Freedom Fighters to the spirit of Uncle Sam. Earlier the profiles hinted at this, but as the characters got older and older (after being placed on Earth 2 during All-Star Squadron), there needed to be a reason that they were not geriatrics in 1985. 

Lastly, the following comment explains how different writers and different editors on the Freedom Fighters book handled and mis-handled the character during the book. Initially the Human Bomb was not able to take off his protective suit, but by the end of the series he was free of that restraint. That's the meaning behind this: ....the teleport device made Lincoln's entire body explosive, so that he had to wear this protective costume continually. The Doll Man designed a damper device with which the Bomb could turn his power on and off. Eventually, this effect of the teleport device wore off. 

Freedom of Information

• The Human Bomb appears on the back cover. 
• William Messner-Loebs is better known as a writer, working on such titles as The Flash, Wonder Woman, Hawkman, and Impulse after this issue of Who's Who.  

The Freedom Fighters

assembled by Len Wein