Was Armageddon 2001 Really That Bad?

[ducklord]

One thing I was always interested in is, Who Built Monarch's Armor?

I mean, it's obviously very powerful, and is somehow able to convert Hawk's Chaos Energy into devastating energy blasts and flight and whatnot.

But there was probably a moment somewhere in the 1990's when Monarch/Hawk went to a mad scientist and had this conversation:
Hawk: See this armor I'm wearing? I need you to make and exact, brand-new duplicate of it.
Scientist: Why?
Hawk: 'Cause I took it off the corpse of my future self a year or so ago, and if I'm not wearing a newer one when I eventually kill myself, the armor will be ten years older than it should be when I get killed in the future.
Scientist: Why not just avoid getting killed by you past self?
Hawk: Then I won't have this bitchin' armor that'll allow me to take over the world.
Scientist: This armor is really advanced. Who designed it in the first place.
Hawk: I have no idea.

[caj]

I remember really liking the JLA annual for Armageddon. It was right before Breakdowns and if I remember correctly, gave nice stopping off places for some of the characters - especially Ice and Guy.

[Zero Hunter]

It is weird, but for some reason I thought there were more tie in annuals. I mean it was kind of a dark period for the mainstream heroes line looking back at that year. It really was a very odd year with DC giving a big push to the failed Impact line of books while most of the older properties just kind of languished.

Green Lantern was in the middle of the Emerald Dawn minis
Aquaman was in a book that was about to be cancelled
Captain Atom was in a book that was about to end
Robin was getting the first of his minis and didn't even have his solo series yet (same with Lobo and Black Canary)
Checkmate had just ended
Deathstroke was just getting started at the time
Mister Miracle had just ended

DC really didn't have a lot to work with going into this crossover.

[DrNewGod]

It is weird, but for some reason I thought there were more tie in annuals. I mean it was kind of a dark period for the mainstream heroes line looking back at that year. It really was a very odd year with DC giving a big push to the failed Impact line of books while most of the older properties just kind of languished.

Green Lantern was in the middle of the Emerald Dawn minis
Aquaman was in a book that was about to be cancelled
Captain Atom was in a book that was about to end
Robin was getting the first of his minis and didn't even have his solo series yet (same with Lobo and Black Canary)
Checkmate had just ended
Deathstroke was just getting started at the time
Mister Miracle had just ended

DC really didn't have a lot to work with going into this crossover.

Yeah, this was definitely the point at which all the energy following CoIE was obviously depleted. The Superman titles had just wrapped up the quite good "Time After Time" arc, and in spite of launching a fourth title wouldn't really come up with anything solid until "Panic in the Sky." The Bat-titles seemed to be doing pretty well, but Wonder Woman was also dragging a bit by this point.

[Anodyne]

The story I remember best is the Flash Annual, in which Waverider's probe ironically prevented the very future he foresaw--and probably doomed a young woman named Bonnie Blackmon(sp?).

[Zero Hunter]

Yeah, this was definitely the point at which all the energy following CoIE was obviously depleted. The Superman titles had just wrapped up the quite good "Time After Time" arc, and in spite of launching a fourth title wouldn't really come up with anything solid until "Panic in the Sky." The Bat-titles seemed to be doing pretty well, but Wonder Woman was also dragging a bit by this point.

Now that you mention it why wasn't Wonder Woman given a tie in annual to this event? Was it because of the War of the Gods crossover was about to kick into gear so they figured she should sit out the annual event? I looked it up and she didn't have an Annual in either 1990 or 1991. She had one in 1992 which was the Eclipso crossover.

[Midnight_v]

Monarch... The captain atom version... is probably my favorite villain conceptually

[shaxper]

I'm a huge fan of this event mostly because of the concept and the amazing first issue, but yeah, the last minute change hurt, as did the two tacked on last minute mini-series tie ins that no one asked for.

I'm actually reviewing the event through the lens of the Superman comics right now and have spent a great deal of time discussing Armageddon 2001 #1, as well as the Superman tie-ins. I should be getting to the finale within the next week.

[Clark_Kent]

I love Armageddon 2001, warts and all. I have it all custom bound, but I sure wish DC would give us an omnibus on good paper.

[Blacula]

Don’t believe the naysayers! ‘Armageddon 2001’ was a great event! Probably in DC’s Top 5 Ever IMO.

First of all, the Annuals were almost uniformly EXCELLENT! Off the top of my head, I can’t think of a single bad one, while a lot of them were truly amazing - the Batman ones, the Superman ones, the JLA/E ones, the L.E.G.I.O.N. one... all had great writing AND great art.

Secondly, I disagree that the reveal was a let-down. I felt that the earlier Hawk/Monarch-exclusion was a mis-direct (in retrospect) so that didn’t bother me. I was of course sorry to lose Dove (and Hawk) but the nature of the event was that we were always going to lose a beloved character to villainy, and I wouldn’t have been any happier to lose Captain Atom. I really liked his character at the time.

I definitely recommend checking it out if you haven’t.

[kingaliencracker]

I think with any "hero-turned-rogue" story you're going to have mixed reactions depending on the level of attachment to the hero by the individual. I think with Armageddon it's compounded by the fact that the original intention of the story didn't come to be because of a leak, and therefore we got a swerve that was inconsistent with the Hawk & Dove annual.

For me, Armageddon was...okay?. I really enjoyed the tie-in annuals more than the main story, and I liked Wavewider as a character. Outside of that I didn't have any ties to Hawk & Dove or Captain Atom, and therefore it didn't really impact me the way other events did.

[SJNeal]

It wasn't bad at all. Unfortunately it suffered what so many other comics/events have suffered from over the years - editorial interference where none was needed. So the endings big reveal leaked... so what? This was 1991, not 2011. There was no internet as we know it, and the vast majority of readers (of which there were exponentially more in the early 90's) would have still had no idea what was going to happen. They should have left well enough alone, and gone with the story as planned.

That said, I still enjoy a reread every few years. A handful of the annuals had some less-than-stellar art, but the stories were all solid!

[qwertyuiop1998]

It's like reading What If series but using dc characters. It was okay for me but I don't think it was really worthy to be published as an event

[Prime]

This is all I've read of it. The Superman spinoffs. Most of them were pretty good. I liked the Maxima one. That one works even without the connection.

This actually

[Lee Stone]

I remember really liking the JLA annual for Armageddon. It was right before Breakdowns and if I remember correctly, gave nice stopping off places for some of the characters - especially Ice and Guy.

One of the best stories from Armageddon 2001.

The annuals ranged from okay to really good.
The event, itself, was kinda ruined by DC changing their plans at the last minute.