The Justice League Heroes of the 1990s come together to pay homage to an iconic cover, creating the perfect nostalgic tribute in the process. During the 90s, DC introduced a plethora of new characters, some of them taking on the mantles of classic heroes, such as Green Lantern. now, Artist Kerry Callen has put them together in a perfect piece of fan art, complete with a major Easter egg.
Kerry Cullen Unveiled the piece in a post on Instagram. He prefaced the post by saying the art was for a commission. The piece shows some of DC’s biggest heroes of the 1990s, such as Green Lantern Kyle Rayner, Green Arrow Connor Hawke and the Azrael Batman, sitting around 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.
The cover, an honor to Justice League of America #21, boldly declares that there is a “crisis on Earth-8.”
DC in the 1990s took big risks with their biggest characters
Many of DC’s 1990s characters continue to make an impact
in 1992, DC Comics published The death of SupermanAnd his runaway success inspired publishers to take big swings with their most popular heroes. yet nightfall, Which saw Azrael temporarily replace Batman, came Emerald TwilightWhich took Hal Jordan off the table and set the stage for Kyle Rayner’s heroic career. For a short time, seemingly every major DC hero found themselves in a definitive storyline that would radically change their status quo, be it a new costume or power. Even after Superman returned, DC continued this approach well into the decade’s end.
Over the course of ten years, DC 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, Neron and Harley Quinn. Some of these characters appear in Cullen’s piece. The iconoclastic stories that led to the icons celebrated anniversaries, led to reappraisals, as well as nostalgia for days gone by. DC has capitalized on this wave, releasing specials for The death of Superman And Zero hours.
Earth-8 should have been a contender in the DC Universe
Kerry Callen gives fans a tantalizing glimpse of Earth-8
Kerry Callen’s piece contains a deep cut into DC lore: Earth-8. The “Crisis on Earth-8” of the piece is not only a reference to the classic “Crisis” stories of the Silver Age, but also to a lost world of the multiverse. As revealed in 2006 Infinite Crisis #5, Earth-8 was a world in DC’s pre-Crisis on Infinite EarthsBut it was destroyed in that event. This was a tragic loss for the DC Universe, as Earth-8 would have taken the heroic baton from Earth-1 much in the way Earth-2 passed the torch to Earth-8.
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Earth-8 did not return to the new multiverse created in its wake 52But Kerry Callen has stealthily acknowledged 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 no more than a throwaway reference, but Callen took it and created a clever piece of fan art that taps into the wave of 90s nostalgia overtaking comics. Callen’s piece is bittersweet, revealing that DC’s ’90s heroes would one day form their own Justice LeagueBut they took away the privilege.
Source: Kerry Cullen, Instagram