Surprisingly dark moments in pre-Crisis DC

[Chris Lang]

Okay, a lot of us don't care for the dark, bleak, bloodier and gorier and nastier direction DC has taken ever since Identity Crisis. This direction, however, only worsened a problem DC has had since Crisis on Infinite Earths -- plenty of death and violence, some of it just for the sake of being 'darker' and 'edgier' and more 'realistic'.

Grant Morrison even pointed out this trend in his last Animal Man issue saying "We thought that by making your world more violent, we would make it more "realistic", more adult. God help us if that's what it means."

However, even in the pre-Crisis DC universe, there are a few incidents that are surprisingly dark for an era many of us now look back on fondly as a brighter time.

There's Professor Zoom's murdering Iris West Allen because he decided that if he couldn't have her, then neither could his foe Barry Allen. Think about it: Zoom was a creepy stalker who ended up stalking and then murdering a longtime supporting character because she rejected him.

And then there's the dark turn Superman and Lex Luthor's feud took in 1983. A decade or two prior, Luthor had become a big hero on another planet, which was renamed Lexor in his honor. The people there all loved Luthor and bought into his anti-Superman propaganda (back then, Luthor was a mad scientist criminal who was in and out of jail much like the Flash's villains, so this was the only way he could be a Villain With Good Publicity until John Byrne's reboot).

This, however, raised the question: If there's this other world where everyone loves Luthor and considers him a hero, why doesn't he just stay there? For a while, the only answer is "Because he's so obsessed with achieving the ultimate victory over Superman". But finally, in 1983, Action Comics #544 had Superman face Lex Luthor on Lexor, with Luthor wearing a new green battlesuit. In the midst of this confrontation, one of Luthor's energy beams bounced off of Superman, and hit a high-tech machine Luthor had been using to stabilise Lexor and keep it from blowing up like Krypton. The energy was then sent into the machine, causing Lexor to explode.

Superman and Lex Luthor were the only survivors. An entire inhabited planet had been wiped out, 'collateral damage' from one of Superman and Luthor's clashes. Fortunately, they didn't just forget about it -- this incident haunted both Superman and Luthor for the next several issues. If I recall correctly, Luthor went off the deep end and tried to destroy Earth before Superman successfully reasoned with him telling him that Earth's the only world he has now and all that.

Still, these scenes are surprisingly dark given how we perceive the pre-COIE era as 'lighter'. But still, back then, perhaps such things were the exception and not the rule (as they are today). And while DC DID do 'dark' back then, they certainly didn't do 'bleak' the way they do now.

Are there any other notably dark incidents from pre-COIE DC that I haven't mentioned?

[Pharozonk]

The difference is that in the pre-Crisis days, DC handled its dark moments much better than they do now. That moment of Superman talking Lex Luthor down from destroying Earth is a prime example of that.

[Lee Stone]

The difference is that in the pre-Crisis days, DC handled its dark moments much better than they do now. That moment of Superman talking Lex Luthor down from destroying Earth is a prime example of that.

True.
It's all about the delivery.

You can tell dark stories without resorting to schlock.

[exile001]

A lot of Golden Age stuff, especially if you think about all the World War II stuff.

Crisis on Infinite Earths is pretty darn dark.

[resipsaloquitur]

There was that time a bunch of Carol Ferris' employees killed Jesus, and she was surprisngly ok with it. Really.

[Andrew Eldritch]

Surprised nobody has mentioned it yet.

[Pharozonk]

There was that time a bunch of Carol Ferris' employees killed Jesus, and she was surprisngly ok with it. Really.

When did that happen?

[resipsaloquitur]

Somewhere during the Green Lantern/Green Arrow Hard-Traveling Heroes saga. Which reminds me: Speedy as a junkie.

[Pharozonk]

Somewhere during the Green Lantern/Green Arrow Hard-Traveling Heroes saga. Which reminds me: Speedy as a junkie.

Was it this?

[resipsaloquitur]

Yep! 10char

[Buried Alien]

This book...



...featured an impalement scene.

And this book...



...featured a violent decapitation scene.

Both were published about two years before COIE.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[exile001]

Aquaman: Death of a Prince.

Good pick.

It's funny, due to the point of this thread, that I've heard about it but never read it so assumed it happened Post-CoIE.

[Jim Kelly]

Some of the dark turns in the late '70s and early '80s had me grousing. I tend to associate Paul Levitz with these as he was either editor or writer on a lot of them. Things like little Arthur being killed off or Jonathan Ross/Pete Ross turning against Superman. To me these were cheap tricks to goose interest in the books at the expense of long range characer development.

You know, a writer could put in the effort to develop characters and plots to build to a payoff--as with Ferro Lad in the Legion by Jim Shooter or Terra in the Titans by Marv Wolfman and George Perez. Or a writer could just pull some cheap stunt out of his ass to stir up contoversy as with killing off Iris and little Arthur.

In hindsight, Speedy turning into a junky was one of those cheap stunts, although done very nicely with Adams and Giordano artwork and a lovely if haunting cover for GREEN LANTERN 86. What other writers did with that turn, by putting in the time to develop Roy as a character and show how his addiction motivated his character to aid others--that was all the good stuff and what I want to see from writers. But the needle in the arm and that exploitive cover for GL 85--for shock value--that was a cheap stunt.

[bat39]

There's this Superman story I haven't read, but I've heard about, in which Superman faces off against a brainwashed clone of his created by Luthor. He defeats the clone by using Gold Kryptonite to strip it of its powers...and then wipes the clones memories and implants in it a totally new identity. Seems a tad disturbing to me!

There's also this 60's Batman story about Bruce having another ward briefly who pretends to be Robin and ends up getting killed. Possibly the first 'in-continuity' death of a 'Robin', in a sense.

The 'Death of Superman' imaginary story from the 60's was pretty dark too!

[Jim Kelly]

There are lots of dark elements in classic comics--I don't know why people ever got the idea that there weren't. Bad press? My favourite comic book ever created, DETECTIVE COMICS 361 (March '67), which among other things features a ruthless Stasi agent named the Butcher, has a dark turn in the plot that I can't tell you about without ruining the story.