“Zero Hour”: A Crisis In Recapping, Part 4

Folks, you’ve heard about it whispered in the corners of DC fandom. You’ve been confused at the odd reference to it in those “modern comics” you devour week after week. What in the darned heck is “Zero Hour”? Why is it called that? Why is it numbered backward? Who is Extant and should I really care? Well, wonder no more, gentle readers. Not only will I be recapping all five issues of the titled event comic, but I will also be reviewing the whole damned thing. Yes, every official lead-up and questionably connected tie-in that DC Comics has chosen to fill up their hefty omnibus tome that haunts the corner of my writing desk. Come with me on this journey through time and more time and some space as we dive into the mess that is “Zero Hour: A Crisis In Time”.

Cover by Tom Grummett, Doug Hazelwood, Dan Davis and Tom McGraw

Written by Mark Waid, Kurt Busiek, Karl Kesel, and Dan Jurgens
Illustrated by Chris Gardner, Dennis Cramer, Colleen Doran, Dave Cooper, Tom Grummett, Doug Hazelwood, Dan Davis, Dan Jurgens, and Josef Rubinstein
Colored by Glenn Whitmore, Tom McCraw, and Dave Grafe
Lettered by John Costanza, Richard Starkings, Bob Pinaha, and Pat Brosseau

A ZERO HOUR tie-in! Superboy meets Superboy! As time turns upside down in the DC Universe, Superboy comes face-to-face with the original Boy of Steel in the place where it all began, Smallville!

A reminder, first of all, that I’m scoring these comics based on their relationship to the core event, with my patented Zero Hour Score (Series relevance + individual merit)!
This week, we’re covering some grouped tie-ins, from the high cosmic utopia of the Legion of Superheroes to some classic Super-family action. Plus, more about the Time Trapper from “Zero Hour” #4! Let’s hop right in.

Legionnaires #18
Written by Mark Waid and Tom McCraw
Illustrated by Chris Gardner and Dennis Cramer
Colored by Tom McCraw
Lettered by Pat Brosseau

Now we’re getting into some truly dense territory. From what scant history I know about the Legion of Superheroes, this series was the first proper reboot, not talking about the “Five Years Later” soft reboot that occurred before this. It’s a very Mark Waid book, and it works well for that. This captures the teen superhero club energy of the original appearance but with a much more nineties-cartoon feel. The dialogue is snappy and witty, but the costumes are still bright and decidedly camp thanks to Tom McCraw’s colors, with the villains matching. Chris Gardner gives characters a very buoyant weight, with exaggerated physicality that’s rounded off at the edges, a chibi-lite look. This, plus Cramer’s silky smooth inks, make for some splash pages jam-packed with characters that still give enough focal space to spotlight two giant villains.

Before I meander too much on this tangent, the gist of the plot here is that some latent “Zero Hour” energy appears to be causing rifts in the Legion’s cast, giving us special appearances from the older versions of the team whilst they fight a pair of omnipotent baddies. All the while, a member named Rokk Krinn is looking for intel on the cause of these time displacements in the Time Trapper’s lair. Gardner and McCraw have fun with the latter section, having the character unknowingly shift from old to young age and back again. Now the problem I have here that is inherent in a book like this is that yet another plot point is layered, in which the original Legionnaires are stranded in the present and encounter an old friend before being summoned by Superman to the front lines. Waid barely balances this all, making everything pretty coherent but sacrificing any potentially fun character moments in lieu of making sure everyone gets a fair go on the page. The villain Mordru is pushed back some more by a last-ditch attempt from Amethyst (yeah, she’s here too!) as the issue closes, leaving readers a bit woozy.

Zero Hour Score: 6.7 – Some really great art and decent character moments, but suffers from being overstuffed with content.

Valor #23
Written by Kurt Busiek
Continued below

If nothing else, I’m loving all these book discoveries I’m making with this recap and the wild creative teams behind them. A Kurt Busiek and Colleen Doran series based on the Superboy-stand-in Mon-El sounds amazing on paper! Yet, this issue is Busiek’s second issue on the book and the final issue of the book in general, making it feel like a phone-in for both creators. It’s more or less a follow up from the “Legionnaires” issue and has our heroes Mon-El/Valor (in this continuity), and Tasmia warped by some “Zero Hour” energy to the rest of the Legion, along with a pre-crisis Superboy to help fight the Mordru threat. Alongside this, we have the Rokk Krinn and Time Trapper story continuing, but thankfully no other plots to tangle this issue up too much. One thing that’s evident at least, is that Doran has a tonne of fun drawing cosmic psychedelia. From the swirling “Zero Hour” energy moving into a three-quarter splash that has Valor falling across a mosaic of different versions of himself, there’s a very dream-like quality to her work that is boosted by Dave Cooper’s calligraphy-esque inking.

There’s some serious background about the crossover brought to light by the Time Trapper here, who had sensed the Crisis in Time and its energy from a distance. In a momentous retcon, it would seem that Time Trapper initially had good intentions to preserve the 30th Century and was the cause of the “Legionnaires” reboot, trying to create a younger and more idealistic version of the team. However, his reality was warped and everything the Trapper did in favor of the Legion ended up a villainous act. In the end, he was stopped at the end of time by Extant, as we saw in “Zero Hour 4”, and apparently met with Rokk Krinn to reveal he is an older version of himself! It’s this kind of operatic time-wimey stuff that works well in “Legion” books so I’m all for this. Meanwhile, in the main plot, Valor stops Mordru’s partner Glorith by *checks notes*… flirting with her, and absorbs all her latent omnipotence. Doran and Cooper channel some Kirby energy here as Valor and Mordru slug it out with cosmic energy melting off them, which Dave Grafe gives an ethereal pastel shade. The ending is pretty surreal, with Busiek doing his best Bronze Age -impression as Valor channels omnipotence into Mordru, kicking in his claustrophobia by suggesting the universe is not big enough to hold his omnipotence and explodes with a really bad trip.

Zero Hour Score: 7.0 – Feels like an underwhelming series finale, but there are some nuggets of greatness in here, plus some connections to the future/history of “Zero Hour”.

Superboy #8
Written by Karl Kesel
Illustrated by Tom Grummett, Doug Hazelwood, and Dan Davis
Colored by Tom McCraw
Lettered by Richard Starkings

The infamous leather-jacketed “Superboy” run has always been on my radar, and this issue has definitely bumped it up a few notches. Who knew you could make a tie-in so dang fun! Karl Kesel’s Superboy dialogue is great and definitely feels like an echo of Wayne’s World, which makes sense considering it came out less than two years before this. Quotes like “I just can’t wait to get back to the Aloha state! You know — Babes, beaches, bikinis, babes… Did I mention babes?” are super cheesy but fun, and endearing to the character’s nature. The eventual twist is a fun bit of issue-to-issue continuity as the pre-Crisis Superboy from “Valor” #23 blips into Kansas and unknowingly saves an Air Force plane alongside jacketed Superboy. Grummett’s characters have a great weight to them, and with the Kansas backdrop, they feel like a homage to Jack Kirby’s “Jimmy Olsen” days, with Hazelwood and Davis giving the inks some heft and light feathering when necessary. Pre-Crisis Superboy arrives in town and has a bit of a meltdown that this Kansas is nothing like his and that no one remembers him, coming off feeling like a proto Superboy-Prime and having bratty tantrums. Kesel does some great work fleshing out jacketed Superboy here too. Taking a moment to have him browse a local record store is a perfect character beat. The first clash between the Superboys is perfectly rendered too, with Grummett conveying pre-Crisis Superboy’s inner tension via a set of dark clouds and lightning in the background. Pre-Crisis Superboy is on a bit of a quest to go and find the Kents whilst battling, but our jacketed friend appeals to his good sense, and the two reconcile behind the Kent’s barn in a touching moment. It’s a very affirming moment for our hero and brings him up to a good level to receive the holographic summon from Superman regarding the main event.

Zero Hour Score: 8.0 – Not super important to the main plot but a perfect tie-in that’s both fun and serves as character development for the series’ protagonist – nice!

Superman #93
Written by Dan Jurgens
Illustrated by Dan Jurgens and Josef Rubinstein
Colored by Glenn Whitmore
Lettered by John Costanza

Oh yeah, this is some Capital-C Classic Dan Jurgens “Superman”. Just take a look at this shot.

Now that is a Superman you can trust. You can take so much from this picture here! Jurgens balances power and confidence with calm gentleness that is the core idea of this character, especially in this era. It’s almost over the top how in control Superman is here, as he literally shows up to Supergirl making contact with an alien craft by grabbing the craft, throwing it back into space, and prioritizing the “Zero Hour” plot. The story of this plot deals with a hanging plot point from last week’s “The Man Of Steel” issue, in which Superman’s parents Lara and Jor-El visit the Kents! It creates an interesting ethical dilemma for Superman, especially with the caveat that he knows these versions of his parents are likely from an alternate universe, but they are still very real. Josef Rubinstein does some great work with moody inks here, working well with heavy silhouettes to show Superman going through an emotional struggle.

The brunt of the story here is a what-if Krypton didn’t die scenario and is all built basically to make Superman feel guilt and want to come back to the planet with his parents (they even mention he has a younger brother!). It’s a little bogged down in narration, but it’s all interesting enough and does feel genuinely emotional. The ending, however, is surprisingly abrupt and a little jarring. Lara and Jor-El leave, and Superman initially goes with them before they are almost immediately killed by a “chronal discharge” (ew). Superman understandably erupts into agony after losing his parents for the second time but manages to rebound quickly enough and go and see the Kents to spend some quality time with them one page later and tell them how much he loves them. It’s all very dramatic, and probably could have used a couple more pages of real estate, but you can’t say that Jurgens didn’t go straight for the jugular!

Zero Hour Score: 7.3 – A classic Superman issue with big emotional swings, with a tangential connection to the main event but a promise by the close that “Zero Hour” has begun, baby! Only four weeks into our coverage!