A basic primer on the Anti-Matter Universe

[jla-antimatter.livejournal.com]

...since a lot of the players didn't know everything about the Anti-Matter Universe, it seemed wise to repost the stuff I put in watchtower_ooc here, where everybody can see it.

EDIT: JLA: Earth 2 can be found for your perusal here. Please consider buying it after you read it, because it is a KETTLE OF FUNK.



The Anti-Matter Universe in its modern, post-Crisis incarnation is a good/evil mirror of the DCU's main (Matter) universe. Put simply, those who are "good" in the Matter Universe are "evil" in the Anti-Matter Universe. Traditionally, in the Anti-Matter Universe, the bad guys win. This leads to interesting theology (Satan won the war for Heaven, condemning God to Hell - Alexander Luthor's expression of shock is "God below"), history ("Brittain" fought the War of Independence attempting to free itself from "Amerika's" reign, and Adolf Hitler was Brittain's greatest hero), and most importantly, the concept of the "favor bank."

The "favor bank" is the inviolate moral principle of the Anti-Matter Universe. Since this world is primarily amoral, you need a structure to keep everybody from just slitting everybody else's throat whenever it's convenient, and the "favor bank" is it - everything, everything you do in society is measured in terms of favors and debts. When you turn eighteen, your parents hand you a bill. When you owe a favor you have to pay it back; if any person should grant a favor for someone else, that person is entitled to compensation whenever they see fit, no matter what the cost or hardship to the latter. The Justice Underground and other such good-doers are feared and reviled specificlaly because they do things out of altruistic motives - IE, they do good deeds for free - and people either revile them as alien or suspect their "true" motives and goals, or both. This is a world that values strength over joy, and where might makes right - period.

The major players on Earth-2 are the Crime Syndicate of Amerika, "the evil Justice League." First introduced in JLA: Earth-2 (the absolutely frigging genius piece of work by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely - I may do a post to fullscans_daily specifically so people can get context), the Crime Syndicate are the undenied rulers of their world, taking the might-makes-right principle and applying it in depth. The members of the Crime Syndicate are:

ULTRAMAN - human astronaut Clark Kent, who discovered the powers of anti-Kryptonite when he encountered aliens who changed him (for the worse). Ultraman derives all his powers from infusions of anti-K, and is in every way that matters the equal of Superman when at full power.
SUPERWOMAN - Lois Lane, sent from Themyiscra to assess the world of Man's strengths. She married Clark Kent along the way, but Lois/Superwoman and Clark/Ultraman have grown to despise each other.
OWLMAN - When a gunman shot Martha and Bruce Wayne in cold blood, Thomas Wayne Senior tried to raise his sole remaining son, Thomas Junior - but Tom Junior never stopped blaming his father for allowing the tragedy, and became Owlman, Batman's equal in every way - and in some ways even better thanks to a drug-enhanced cerebral cortex that boosts his already naturally genius IQ. Like Batman, Owlman has contigency plans set aside to deal with all of his allies. Unlike Batman, he doesn't feel bad about it. Oh, and he's sleeping with Superwoman on the side, just because he can.
JOHNNY QUICK - A speedster who gains his powers through repeated injections of "speed juice", a narcotic super-stimulant. Also a giant punk-ass.
POWER RING - This one's a bit complex, because there have actually been THREE Power Rings - the original Power Ring (the Hal analogue), who was then killed by the second Power Ring (Rayne Harrolds, the Kyle analogue) for his ring, despite the original warning him that it was a curse. Harrolds eventually tricked the third Power Ring (the John Stewart analogue) into taking the ring from him. In all cases, the power of the ring is the soul of an insane Tibetan monk called Volthoom.

In the "Syndicate Wars" storyline in JLA (which is also a great read), Kurt Busiek fills out a lot of detail on other inhabitants of the Anti-Matter Universe (or at least names a lot of them). BARRACUDA (Aquaman's analogue) rules the seas with an iron hand, and I've used him as an Aquaman villain before here. BLOOD EAGLE (Hawkman's analogue) was killed by the Syndicate a few years previous. "THE WHITE MARTIAN" (J'onn's analogue) was Ultraman's first rival when he got his powers, and ultimately "his first kill." Busiek also mentions that in the wake of "Syndicate Wars", other organizations, like the Young Offenders (the Teen Titans' analogues) and the Crime Lodge of Amerika (the JSA's analogues) are looking to profit at any point where the Syndicate fails.

Predating the Syndicate and Lodge and the rest in Anti-Matter lore are the Qwardian Conglomerate, a team of mercenaries/protection racket superhuman Qwardians who were hired by an Earth corporation to team up against the JLA during the "Justice League International" period, and who are roughly counterparting some of the JLI heroes - although these aren't true analogues since they aren't human. They are Elasti-Man (Elongated Man), Dead-Eye (Green Arrow), Scarab (Blue Beetle), Slipstream (Flash), Fiero (Fire), Frostbite (Ice), and Element Man (Metamorpho).

I've fleshed out the Crime Lodge here for this Luthor storyline. (Note that neither the Lodge nor the Conglomerate sent their full strength; Owlman didn't want to burn out the CSA's entire favor bank.) Present are Novasoul (the AMU Alan Scott, fused with the energy of his lantern, a la Sentinel, but more alien); Mr. Night (the AMU Dr. Mid-Nite/Pieter Cross, but with shadow powers), Vengeance (Jakeem Thunder, but older, and instead of the Thunderbolt he commands the power of the Wraith, the AMU Spectre - however, the Wraith can't interfere directly in this earth for many reasons - not the least of which is that he serves Lucifer rather than God, since Lucifer won the war for Heaven in the AMU - so he's just given Jakeem super-strength and toughness), Stormcrow (Black Canary, but instead of a sonic cry, imagine Lady Shiva on steroids) and Lord Terrible (AMU Mr. Terrific, obviously).

Finally, who are the good guys on this world? Well, they're mostly dead. The populace hates or fears them, and this isn't a world where capital punishment is discouraged. Alexander Luthor is probably the foremost defender of "good" on Earth-2, having managed to stay alive longer than just about anybody else who does what he does, ever. His example has inspired other organizations, such as the H.I.V.E. (Hierarchy For International Virtuous Empowerment), The Missile Men, and most notably the various incarnations of The Justice Underground of Amerika.

Busiek actually featured one version of the Justice Underground in a JLA Secret Files and Origins issue I can't seem to find anywhere; his roster was led by Quizmaster (The Riddler's analogue), and its members were Lady Sonar, Star Sapphire,, Q-Ranger (Major Force's analogue), General Grodd and Sir Solomon Grundy. As of "Syndicate Wars", all of them except Quizmaster were dead, with the exception of Sir Solomon Grundy, described as "inert".

The Justice Underground featured in the current Watchtower story works along the same principle as the Magnificent Seven JLA - take the biggest names Luthor (as the world's premiere superheroic outlaw) could get, and I tried to stick to analogues of the standard DCU's biggest-name villains. The Mournful Man is the Joker's analogue, for example; Sigma Octantis is Dr. Polaris' analogue; Lioness is Cheetah's; Kalipso was Circe's; and Johcas Pokuus is of course Abra Kadabra's. Man O' War (Ocean Master's) remained behind on Earth-2.

And that's it. I'll update this post with a link to any scans that might get posted.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_black_canary_/]

Nice job, dude. The whole thing's been fun to read and RP in.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_man_of_steel_/]

Ditto. The amount of background work you must have done on this to come up with all of the analogues is staggering to me. And I would be grateful for a fullscans post of Earth 2 if you ever get around to it.