Justice League 1990s heroes come together to pay homage to the iconic cover while creating the perfect nostalgic tribute. The ’90s saw DC introduce a variety of new characters, some of whom took on the mantles of classic heroes such as Green Lantern. Now, Artist Kerry Cullen combined the two into a beautiful piece of fan art, complete with a large Easter egg.
Kerry Cullen published this article in a post on Instagram. In the preface to the post, he said that the artwork was created to order. The piece depicts some of DC’s greatest heroes of the 1990s, such as Green Lantern Kyle Rayner, Green Arrow Connor Hawke and Azrael Batman, sitting at a table having what appears to be a séance. Above them in a cloud of smoke are the heroes of the “classic” Justice League: Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.
Cover, tribute Justice League of America #21 boldly states that there is a “Crisis on Earth-8”.
DC took big risks with its greatest characters in the 1990s.
Many 1990s DC characters continue to be influential
In 1992 DC Comics Published Death of Supermanand its runaway success inspired the publisher to make big changes with its most popular heroes. After Knightfall who saw Azrael temporarily replace Batman came Emerald Twilightwhich took Hal Jordan off the table and set the stage for the heroic career of Kyle Rayner. For a brief period, it seemed like every major DC hero found himself in some kind of storyline that radically changed their status quo, be it a new suit or a power. Even after Superman returned, DC continued this approach for the rest of the decade.
For ten years, DC has introduced a number of characters that continue to influence the publisher’s universe.. These include the aforementioned Azrael and Kyle Rayner, as well as Connor Hawke, Superboy (Conner Kent), Steel, the Jack Knight version of Starman, Nero and Harley Quinn. Several of these characters appear in Cullen’s work. The iconoclastic stories that gave rise to these icons focus on anniversaries, leading to reappraisal as well as nostalgia for days gone by. DC took advantage of this wave by releasing specials for Death of Superman And Zero hour.
Earth-8 was supposed to be a contender in the DC Universe
Kerry Cullen gives fans a tantalizing look at Earth-8
Kerry Cullen’s article provides an in-depth look at the history of DC: Earth-8. The “Crisis on Earth-8” works are not only a reference to the classic Silver Age “Crisis” stories, but also to the lost world of the multiverse. As it turned out in 2006 Infinite Crisis #5, Earth-8 was a world before DC.Crisis on Infinite Earthsbut at the same time he was destroyed. This was a tragic loss for the DC Universe, as Earth-8 would take up the heroic torch from Earth-1 in much the same way Earth-2 passed the torch to Earth-8.
Earth-8 did not return to the new multiverse created after 52but Kerry Cullen secretly admitted that it once existed. Infinite Crisis revealed that Rayner and other DC heroes created after the 1990s would have lived on Earth-8. The first mention of Earth-8 was little more than a reference, but Cullen took it and created a witty piece of fan art that taps into the wave of ’90s nostalgia sweeping comics. Cullen’s article is bittersweet, revealing that DC’s ’90s heroes once formed their own Justice Leaguebut were deprived of this privilege.
Source: Kerry Cullen, Instagram