io9
It's an eight-issue crossover comic book series where a ton of superheroes discover that their friends, family - and even some of the heroes themselves - have been replaced by alien invaders with a sinister agenda. Marvel's upcoming Secret Invasion? Nope - DC's 1988 crossover series Millennium. This series not only did the alien conspiracy plot twenty years before Skrulls took over Marvel, but also introduced arguably the lamest super-heroes ever. Find out what happened to the next step of human evolution under the jump.
A spin-off of a Green Lantern subplot, Millennium wasn't exactly the paranoiac's delight that Secret Invasion threatens to be, in that there was an upside to the story, as well. Representatives of the well-named Guardians of The Universe had come to Earth to select ten humans that would help usher in the greatest evolutionary step in a thousand years (hence the title), and the alien Manhunters - themselves created by the Guardians - went undercover to try and make sure that no-one helped that happen. The result was a line-wide story that switched between hippie lessons about the nature of life as the chosen few expanded their cosmic consciousness and revelations that many familiar faces - including a hypnotized Lana Lang, replaced Commisioner Gordon and the DC-Universe Nancy Reagan - were actually working with the bad guys to stall the process.
The series is a wonderful example of the schizophrenia of late-80s superhero comics, where political themes are attempted (The Iraqi woman chosen by the Guardians is stoned to death, for example, while the English chosen doesn't see the point of helping a humanity that helped put Margaret Thatcher in power) but everything devolves into a punchfest nonetheless. Once they achieve cosmic consciousness, the chosen turn into... more superheroes. Sadly never reprinted, there are two things that this series should be remembered for - the creation of the first openly gay superhero for either DC or Marvel (Admittedly, he called himself Extrano, but that's because he was a Mexican rip-off of Marvel's Doctor Strange as much as any queer joke), and the fact that The New Guardians, the spin-off comic starring the chosen cosmic avatars, not only featured HIV+ vampire assassins and bad guys fuelled by magic cocaine in its desire to be socially relevant. Ah, those more innocent days before it was all evil aliens trying to take over the world...
Millennium [Amazon]
Comments
Magic cocaine is a helluva drug.
Magic Cocaine - reminds me of the Chevy Chase film Modern Problems
The most memorable thing for me about that "Millennium" storyline was that Boston Brand (aka Deadman) was the one who saved the Earth from the alien menace, by possessing an alien invader and making him push the Wrong Button.
I mean, when does Deadman EVER get to do anything as big as saving the world!?
(Hmmm... I just double-checked online, and it was the DC special event series "Invasion!" where Deadman saved the planet... I guess there was NOTHING memorable about "Millennium" for me!)
@BloggyMcBlogBlog:
"See, I never just did things just to do them. Come on, what am I gonna do? Just all of a sudden jump up and try to jump start human evolution and create a new race of superheroes??? Come on. I got a little more sense then that....Yeah, I remember trying to jump start human evolution and create a new race of superheroes."
I remember reading this and thinking this is so awesome...until...until we got the guardians new superheros...wow were they stinkers
I think the Bloodlines cross over was even worse. Nothing good came of that debacle except for Garth Ennis's Hitman.
Millennium doesn't need to be reprinted. You can find all eight issues in the 25ยข box of every comic book store in the English-speaking world. And you would still be paying too much for them.
Anyway, you forgot the third reason this series was memorable: It was DC's first weekly comic, so at least the misery was over quickly.
@geekfather: So you are saying one excellent book came out of it? Millennium had nothing come out of it.
I think I got those in a box somewhere.
Oh wait, that wasn't me... it was my twin...
@ratlas: Good reference!
+ Watch video
OK, OK, OK, OK.
I need a clarification. The HIV + Vampire Assassins: are they people who hunt and kill vampires, or are they vampires who double as hitmen? Because their HIV +-ness certainly acts a motivation, but is dependant on their origins.
That's the one with the infamous "Fascist England" line by Stainless Steve Englehart, as I recall.
I liked how in that JSA story from a few years back, where the heroes are forced to fight each other in Roulette's arena, two or three of the New Guardians were on the list of superheroes who had been killed in previous fights. Going from "major summer crossover" to "off-panel death" is no easy feat.
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