Armageddon 2001 Thoughts.

[GrandKaiser]

I remember really liking the Batman storyline. Great art, plus it has Bats and Anarky teaming up!

[SJNeal]

On a side note, Eclipso the Darkness within was my favorite "Annual event", and I even enjoyed Bloodlines, though most of the chaaracters to come out of it were pretty lame.

Peace

"Eclipso:TDW" was my favorite annual event as well, mostly for nostalgias sake, as it was the very first comic event I ever followed from beginning to end. This was of course before the word "event" made me queasy...

On topic - my favorite "Armageddon 2001" annuals were JLE, Hawkworld, L.E.G.I.O.N., and Adventures of Superman.

[ultradav]

I REALLY enjoyed the Eclipso series that spun out of the Eclipso: The Darkness Within crossover event. It was really good. It didn't last too too long, but I enjoyed seeing them take a bit villain like Eclipso and turning him into a force to be reckoned with, as well as how they contrasted him with the Spectre.

[FanboyStranger]

I REALLY enjoyed the Eclipso series that spun out of the Eclipso: The Darkness Within crossover event. It was really good. It didn't last too too long, but I enjoyed seeing them take a bit villain like Eclipso and turning him into a force to be reckoned with, as well as how they contrasted him with the Spectre.

I think if they had more consistant art, it could have had some staying power. It was really an interesting meditation on the nature of evil. Plus, where else are you going to see Ted McKeever draw a two-part story set in Victorian times in a commercial superhero book?

[titanfan]

I have a question about Armageddon 2001, and I've never seen it addressed anywhere. We all know (or should by now) that the original plan was to reveal that Captain Atom would become Monarch, but due to the leak Hawk was swapped into being Monarch instead. What I want to know is, why was Captain Atom chosen in the first place? Was this a situation where somebody said, "Hey, I've got what I think is a great idea for what to do with Captain Atom!", or was the Monarch concept created first and Captain Atom chosen afterwards? I've always wondered, in the back of my mind, what the reasoning was. Seeing as he was the most powerful of the Charlton characters, had had a damn good run on his title written by Cary Bates & Greg Weisman, was being pushed into a level of respect comparable to Superman's (as he was made the leader of the anti-Invasion! forces due to his military background, as well as leader of JLE), etc., I guess I'm asking if somebody at DC Editorial viewed him as a potential 'threat' to Superman in the same way I've seen Captain Marvel/Shazam! fans accused them of viewing that character. Or maybe I'm just reading into things.

The Monarch/Storyline was created first and then they decided who would fit the bill.

It basically needed to be someone in a title that had sales low enough to be cancelled, but still important enough to the DCU. Capain Atom fit the bill. If they had set things up well enough--I could have believed Captain Atom would have qualified--but I think it was more important to DC to have shock value instead of actually telling a good story.

In addition, there's no reason why they could have introduced a new Captain Atom later as well. Their plans for the Charlton characters kept changing over time. Nightshade was written out of Suicide Squad around the same time the Armageddon 2001 finale came out, so I always wondered if they were planning to kill her off like they did Dove.

If it wasn't for the terrible finale, it would have been my favorite summer crossover.