Who's Who in the DCU #19

 

Who's Who

The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #19 

(Sept 1986)

cover: Ernie Colon

editor: Robert Greenberger

contributing editor: Len Wein

contributing writers: Mike W. Barr, Paul Levitz, 

Bob Rozakis, Greg Weisman

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

production: Todd Klein

colorists: Anthony Tollin, Len Wein, Tatjana Wood, Tom Ziuko

copy editor: Brenda Pope

Featuring: The Ray and The Red Bee

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.) 

 

The Ray

Art by Murphy Anderson

As mentioned before, Who's Who has now caught up to CRISIS, and now Earths 2 and X no longer exist. Similar to last week's Phantom Lady entry, this history reads almost the same as the others, except that the last paragraph(s) keep getting altered as CRISIS unfolded. Specifically, the Ray is called out for his role in the Crisis, telling us that he was from Earth-X, then from Earth 2, and finally from Just Earth. Interesting.....

As mentioned before, Murphy Anderson was a fan of these Quality Comics characters, and specifically asked to draw them for Who's Who.  

The Red Bee

Art by Rick Hoberg

This is probably the saddest Who's Who entry we'll look at, because not only does it not tell us how or why Red Bee died, but it erases his heroism (what is mentioned of it) and gives us a big question mark instead. 

As anyone who has been reading these reviews knows, I am not a big fan of the inclusion of Red Bee (and the other minor Quality Comics characters) into the Freedom Fighters' mythology. However, it is/was canon for a few years, so I have no choice but to accept it. And entries like this (and Baron Blitzkrieg's entry earlier) just make me angry. 

Red Bee died to try to help free the Freedom Fighters from the clutches of Baron Blitzkrieg. Would it have hurt DC to have added that bit to his profile? I don't think so. Instead we get a very obscure "he went to Earth-X, where he was killed." How transitive can you get? It doesn't even say he was murdered by Nazis. This is not giving him the credit that he deserves. 

Now that the Crisis has occurred, none of those events occurred the way they were originally told, if at all. It is actually possible that the Red Bee is alive! But instead of committing to that, this entry leaves his history (and fate) totally blank. 

In my opinion, this entry does Red Bee wrong. 

Art-wise, Red Bee looks good. The entry is by Rick Hoberg, who was the artist on the Freedom Fighters epic in All-Star Squadron wherein Red Bee was murdered by Baron Blitzkrieg. 

Freedom of Information

• The Ray and Red Bee both appear on the back cover. 
• Murphy Anderson was an admitted fan of characters such as Doll Man and the Ray, so specifically asked for these entries if they were available. 
• Rick Hoberg drew the murder of Red Bee in All-Star Squadron #35.  

The Freedom Fighters

assembled by Len Wein