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.

 

The chronological Judgment Day, Part 3: The age of wizards, berserkers, trolls and knights

When last we saw it, the book of fate was thrown down into the chasm where it remained for ages until about 500 B.C. 

(Moore returned to this story at three different points over the course of Judgment Day, so I've spliced them together as best I can.)

  

The book was unearthed by trolls serving the wizard Magnar Teufelsun, who used it as his grimoire. Eventually, along came Bram, a Conan-like berserker.

 

 

 

 

Bram held onto the book through his own rule, but ultimately gave it away to Troll.

 

 

 

It's interesting that even though Troll hinted at doing his own bit of rewriting earlier, it's Merlin who first rewrites large portions of the book of fate to change it, in this case to make Arthur king. It also suggests why Merlin would know so much about the future.

 

 

And so the book was locked away and protected by the Knights Templar as the dark ages fell over Europe.

The question that arises is, what was fated originally if Merlin (or more likely Troll before him) hadn't rewritten the book, defeating the wizard Magnar? Was Magnar fated to rule forever? Or had he done his own rewriting to put himself in charge and Troll and Bram were the timeline's way of correcting his changes?

Moore never really answers this, but I think it's a question he meant for us to wonder about.

Next time we'll see how the book first comes to America.

The chronological Judgment Day, Part 2: The birth of mankind

We're now millions of years since Demeter put the book in the cave at the start of time. Life has developed on the planet and even the beginning of human life. 

 

Giganthro, the cave man member of the League of Infinity, is testifying about his experience with the book of fate in two pages drawn by Steve Skroce.

 

It's interesting to me that the book of fate seems to radiate power in a way that gives enhanced abilities to people near it. Partly that's a very comic sort of idea, like a radioactive spider. 

 

But also, it suggests story and language as an evolutionary step, enhancing those who come into contact with it, from the dinosaur who grows a man's head, to Giganthro, who has developed superior cunning. It's also interesting that Giganthro's cunning suggests the influence of Hermes, as well.

 

The book has tremendous powers but also holds great sway over those it ensnares, like Dino-Man. Obviously, we'll see more of that as we go.

 

Dino-Man returns later and becomes part of the group of arch enemies of the League of Infinity (and we see a statue of him in their headquarters in the pages of Supreme).

 

Next up we'll see who finds the book and draws it out of the depths of the chasm.