The Albatross

In Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Coleridge, a sailor who shot an albatross which had given the ship good fortune is forced to wear it around his neck as the boat sinks into a hell. The word albatross subsequently has become synonymous with a burden on someone, especially in the context of some sin or ill fortune that has fallen on them.

A rather literary start to a post on Supergirl Comic Box Commentary but bear with me.

Because today I thought I would comment on characters who have had an albatross placed in their continuity and how difficult it sometimes is to move past that burden, even in a genre where resurrections, retcons, and reboots are common. In comics, it is often a dark moment for a character where it is simply too hard to move on.

And I wonder if, when such a story element is being pitched, if the creative powers that be realize that such a plot point might be extremely damaging moving forward.

Let's start with the impetus for this post, Doomsday Clock #8 and poor Firestorm.

I have been sort of underwhelmed with Doomsday Clock as a whole. Time delays within each issue and a sort of plodding pace so far has made it difficult to embrace. While moments have been interesting (old green lanterns, Johnny Thunder, Rorscach II), I have read and bagged and haven't revisited. Even the back matter, which I am sure is filled with goodies has been skimmed and been mostly forgotten.

And then Doomsday Clock #8 happened and it just seemed to matter. Geoff Johns made the whole thing click. It didn't hurt that the issue basically revolved around Superman, something Clock was supposed to do from it's inception. It also helped that Superman was portrayed perfectly, from an implied beat down of an obstinate Black Adam to a friendly and inspirational voice to Firestorm and people in general. I was happy. But not everybody was.

For while it might have been a great issue for Superman, it wasn't for Firestorm. This is a classic Firestorm of Ronnie Raymond and Martin Stein. While in Russia and in a moment of panic, he lashes out with his powers and turns the surrounding throng of civilians into glass, in essence murdering them. This labels him a threat, forces the Russian government to condemn American heroes, and forces Superman into an international incident.

Firestorm has never ever ever been able to effect organic life in this way. And even though he changes one of the statues back to the living, the incident happened. In fact, later some of these statues get smashed, ending any chance of revitalization.

Friend to this blog, co-founder of the excellent Fire and Water Podcast Network, and Firestorm aficionado The Irredeemable Shag wondered if this was Firestorm's albatross moment. This wasn't Firestorm's story. He was used to nudge a plot line along with powers he has never exhibited before. And if this sticks, it will be the albatross of continuity with the Nuclear Man forever. Remember him ... he killed a bunch of people. That will stick.
Now maybe this is shenanigans. Maybe this is Dr. Manhattan doing weird stuff. But if that isn't true, this will leave a stain on Ronnie moving forward.

And I have been around long enough to see this with other characters. It seems the only way to get out of these situations is with a major reboot or retcon. And sometimes, despite that, the stench of the albatross lingers.

In The Avengers #213, from way back in 1981, Hank Pym in the midst of a mental breakdown, slapped Janet, his wife and hero The Wasp.

Nearly 40 years later, that has been the albatross around Pym. Especially in the current environment, there is no escaping this. Despite his claim of love, despite his mental health needs, he still was physically abusive. And this is also semi-toxic to Janet. If she keeps him in her life, she isn't sending the right message.

Pym can't come back from this.

Armageddon 2001 ended with the forced fit switcheroo that Hawk becomes Monarch.

That ended the Hawk and Dove book that I loved so much at that time. But despite dying and coming back ... despite new universes ... despite new writers and new teams and new outlooks, Hawk and Dove (and especially Hank as Hawk) has been too poisonous a intellectual property to touch.

Everyone still says 'Hawk? Wasn't he Monarch??'

It's a shame. Because I love Hawk and Dove.

Fun-loving and silly Speedball became the self-flagellating Penance after The New Warriors pushed Nitro into blowing up a town in Marvel's Civil War.

There is no coming back from that. We won't see that Speedball ever again.



There are some examples where the albatross can be shed. But again, as mentioned, it usually takes a deep continuity scrub and a lot of time.

Back in 1977 in Adventure Comics #452, Aquaman's son Arthur Jr was killed at the hand of Black Manta.

This moment impacted and informed Aquaman as a character for decades, every new team wanting to touch on it. It took the New 52 to erase that timeline for it to be gone. That's almost 40 years.

Hal Jordan didn't get his character squared away after his dark turn in Emerald Twilight for 10 years. This evil turn wasn't so much an albatross as much as tossing him into the comic blender and hitting frappe. From madman to Parallax to hero to Specter back to Green Lantern is quite a turn.

And villains can their own albatross storylines as well. Toyman became a child murderer in Superman #94 back in 1994. Hard to be a silly villain with giant tops and enormous 'jack in the box' weapons when you go that dark. No more silly pin-striped suits and sonic yo-yos. It took 14 years before Geoff Johns wrote a story saying it was an out of control Toyman LMD that committed the hated crime.

And some thing that could be an albatross somehow becomes something better. I don't think of Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 as a burden on Supergirl any more. But for a while I thought it might be. The specter of death and erasure, the imagery of Superman holding her that way, the overwhelming feeling in that time period that Supergirl was completely expendable and no one really cared was like a pall over her character. Instead, the enormity and importance of that moment has made it more of a shining example of her heroism than a testament to her lack of potency.

I don't know if this has been interesting. I don't know if people have other examples. But I know that Firestorm deserves better than the fate of Penance. And I wonder if creators know the power they have over someone's favorite.

Posted in: Reviews