- Sergio Aragonés Destroys DC
"Sergio Aragonés Destroys DC" is a comic book written by
Sergio Aragonés andMark Evanier and published in1999 . The book is a satire ofDC Comics characters.Plot
The story starts with a meeting between
Martian Manhunter and theHawkman , who has been crying for help. Hawkman warns him (and several other characters fromDCU ) that a great danger is coming to all superheroes, but he doesn't say what kind of danger is coming.Aragonés and Evanier have a talk in which is made clear that Aragonés has tried to get a job in DC, but was refused (allegedly, this occurs because he once worked with
Groo , or because he never drew any superheroes comics).After the rejection, Aragones decides to draw some DC superheroes stories, helped by Evanier, in order to get experience in the field. He starts with
Superman .Jor-el , Superman's father, is talking to her wife about the imminent destruction of the planet Krypton, when suddenly the destruction itself begins. Since the rocket built by Jor-el is too small, he abandons the idea of saving himself and "chooses" to save his son, sending him toEarth (after a brief thought of sending the baby to theSun ). After the destruction of Krypton, the baby comes to Earth, where he's shown facing enemies likeLex Luthor (who hates Superman because of his hair loss) andMr Mxyzptlk , besides being portrayed asClark Kent , Superman'salter ego . After Superman saves a kid from a car crash (and provoking another worse car crash), Hawkman appears, and tells Superman "they're doomed". Superman and Hawkman then fly off the car crash scene.Batman is the next portrayed character. After recounting Batman's origin, including his parents murder and the bat outfit choice, Aragonés shows Batman (or "The Batman", as the character constantly repeats) receiving aJoker 's letter. Batman goes to an abandoned carnival park, where he spanks an innocent clown before meeting the Joker. After a brief discussion between the two characters, Superman and Hawkman appear, and Batman leaves with them.Wonder Woman appears next. She saves a man that's being robbed, kicking the bandit in the nuts. After this, a large group of men appears and ask Wonder Woman to hit them (in an allusion thesadomasochism ). A little girl shows up, and she leaves the scene to show the girl herlasso of truth abilities, her invisible plane andThemyscira , the amazon island. The island is then suddenly attacked by a horde of men. These men come from the United States Supreme Court, which have decided that is illegal to restrict the access to the island in terms of gender (only women can live in Themyscira). After Hawkman arrives, Wonder Woman leaves the island.The
Legion of Superheroes is portrayed too, in a failed attempt to select members for the team. In the middle of fhe "job interviews", an alien spacecraft lands on Earth, and a being demands to speak to the Legion leader. There's a huge fight to decide who's the leader. Hawkman shows up again, but leaves quickly, and the leader dispute restarts.Finally, the
Justice League of America (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Hawkman, Martian Manhunter,Aquaman ,The Flash and Kyle Rayner asGreen Lantern ) is assembled. They try to find out who is trying to destroy them, and recount some milestone events of the DC Universe, likeBarry Allen 's death inCrisis on Infinite Earths andHal Jordan becomingParallax . It's then revealed that Aragonés himself didn't choose the main villain.After looking at old comic books, Aragonés chooses
Johnny DC as the villain. Johnny DC was a mascot used by DC in the sixties to promote his comics. Allegedly, the character was "fired" by DC when a new comic book style was decided by the editors. Johnny DC talks briefly to the Justice League, and then "adapts itself to the90s ", becoming a gigantic monster.The monstrous Johnny DC attacks the Justice League (and some other characters) and defeats them easily. Superman asks Batman to think of a solution before they are all annihilated. After a
merchandise page, Batman says he's gonna buy aCD player , model CD YNNHOJ. Johnny DC repeats the model name, and disappears in a dense smoke. It's then revealed that "CD YNNHOJ" is "Johnny DC" spoken backwards (the same trick is used, in the DC stories, to make Mxyzptkl disappear).Aragonés and Evanier, after finishing the story, go to the DC headquarters, where Aragonés expects to be well treated after showing the editors the story. Aragonés is kicked out of the DC building, but the story is published anyway, because a distracted DC employee puts the story along with other Vertigo comics selected for printing.
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