The chronological Judgment Day, Part 7: The dark age

When we last saw the book of destiny, it had been stolen from Storybook Smith. So what became of it?

We find out that it was stolen by the man who would become Sentinel:

In the ensuing fight, the book gets thrown over the edge of Supreme's Citadel and lands among a homeless girl:

The book of fate was a great device for telling this story of heroes and adventurers throughout history. But it also allowed Moore to play with time travel, the inability to escape the hands of fate, and the power of language. 

Before I end this, let me throw out one more random theory. What if the difference between our universe and the Awesome one was the changes Troll, Magnar, Merlin and the others made to the book? What if the book of fate foretold our ordinary destiny but with those small changes, time changed and changed until superheroes started showing up?

It's just a silly thought, but I enjoyed Judgment Day's exploration of comics' history and wish more had been done to interact with the various heroes and genres.

What'd you think?

The chronological Judgment Day, Part 6: WWII and the superheroes

When last we saw the book of fate, WWI flying ace the Phantom Aviator had taken possession of the book. He took it with him to WWII, where he met up with Blake Baron, who was based on a Sgt. Nick Fury war comic. 

 Baron testified at the Youngblood murder trial about what happened next.

With the book in Storybook Smith's hands, he became a superhero for the original Allied Supermen of America. His wife testified next.

 

 

As for Smith's daughter, we get a glimpse of what happened to her:

She ultimately became the superhero Riptide and the victim in the Youngblood murder case.

Moore has finally linked up the Extreme universe's history with what he had made up for Supreme. But more than that, he created a history rich in genres to explore, from cowboys to Conan-style berserkers. In Youngblood and other places, Moore would start to draw on this history, but it had so much more potential.

Anyway, with the book now missing, we'll find out its location and how it was wrapped up in the murder trial next.

The chronological Judgment Day, Part 5: Tarzan, Doc Savage, a noir hero and a WWI flying ace

When last we saw the book of destiny, it had been buried in the American west of the mid-1800s. But it couldn't stay buried. Edward Conqueror, a British explorer most likely based on Professor Challenger from Arthur Conan Doyle's novel The Lost World, discovered the book when excavating a Native American burial ground, as his descendant testified about at the Youngblood murder trial.

Edward Challenger and family went missing and nothing was heard of them for years.

Ten years later Prophet would bring the book with him on a Doc Savage-inspired adventure where he passed on the book to the WWI flying ace, the Phantom Aviator:

It's starting to become clear how Moore is creating a shared universe of almost every kind of boys adventure genres in comics, from lost worlds with dinosaurs to Tarzan-inspired jungles to WWI flying pilots and 1930s noir heroes, such as The Fog. Moore would go on to repeat this trick in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but this is a fascinating warm up.

Anyway, the Phantom Aviator would fly again in WWII, where we'll see the book next.

The chronological Judgment Day, Part 4: Pirates, Puritans and cowboys

When last we saw the book of fate, it was being guarded by the Winter Knight, from King Arthur's Camelot, and taken into his order the Knights Templar. The book would remain there until the Knights Templar started to dissolve. 

Toby, a lawyer in the Youngblood murder trial, would explain what happened next.

It's kind of surprising that Moore didn't show any adventures of the pirate Captain Compass, but I guess he may have thought his pirate comic in Watchmen was enough.

NightEagle, the Native American magus, testifies in the Youngblood murder trial about the Puritan who would obtain it next. It's clear that Deliverance Drue is based on Solomon Kane.

 

 

In a classic Alan Moore time-traveling twist, it's only after these events that NightEagle is called upon to testify in the trial itself.

 

 

 

He continued his testimony:

 

In a small postscript to the cowboys, it turns out Kid Thunder was black and there was a curse on him that his seed are going to hell. 

 

 

 Moore gets cute and has "hell" mean that Sentinel ends up in Supreme's Hell of Mirrors. {groan}

 

And so the book remained hidden, waiting to be unearthed again, not by a troll, but by an archeologist.