"The Janus Directive" is an eleven-part
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
crossover
Crossover may refer to:
Entertainment
Albums and songs
* ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album)
* ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987
* ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album)
* ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album)
* ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...
first published by
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
between May and June of
1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...
. Among the creators who contributed to the storyline were writers
John Ostrander
John Ostrander (born April 20, 1949) is an American writer of comic books, including '' Suicide Squad'', ''Grimjack'' and '' Star Wars: Legacy''.
Career
Ostrander studied theology with the intent of becoming a Catholic priest, but now describes ...
,
Kim Yale
Kim Yale (November 22, 1953 – March 7, 1997) was an American writer and editor of comic books for several publishers including DC Comics, Eclipse Comics, First Comics, Marvel Comics, and WaRP Graphics.
Biography
Yale was born in Evanston, Illi ...
,
Paul Kupperberg
Paul Kupperberg (born June 14, 1955) is an American writer and comics editor. He is currently a writer and executive editor at Charlton Neo Comics and Pix-C Webcomics, and a contributing author with Crazy 8 Press. Formerly, he was an editor for D ...
,
Cary Bates and
Greg Weisman
Greg Weisman (born September 28, 1963) is an American novelist, writer, producer and voice actor. He is best known as the creator of the animated series '' Gargoyles'', ''The Spectacular Spider-Man'' and '' Young Justice''.
Early life and caree ...
and artists John K. Snyder III, Rick Hoberg, Rafael Kayanan,
Tom Mandrake
Tom Mandrake (born 1956) is an American comics artist, perhaps best known for his collaborations with writer John Ostrander on several series, including ''Grimjack'' (from First Comics) and '' Firestorm'', ''The Spectre'', and '' Martian Manhunte ...
and
Pat Broderick
Pat Broderick (born November 26, 1953) is an American comics artist, known for his work on the ''Micronauts'' and ''Alpha Flight'' for Marvel Comics, and '' Legion of Super-Heroes'', ''Captain Atom'' and ''Green Lantern'' for DC Comics. Broderick ...
.
History
The crossover storyline ran through the following titles: ''
Checkmate!'' (#15-18), ''
Suicide Squad
The Suicide Squad is an antihero/supervillain team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The first version of the Suicide Squad debuted in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #25 (September 1959) and the second and modern version, cre ...
'' (#27-30), ''
Manhunter'' (#14), ''
Firestorm
A firestorm is a conflagration which attains such intensity that it creates and sustains its own wind system. It is most commonly a natural phenomenon, created during some of the largest bushfires and wildfires. Although the term has been used ...
'' (vol. 2) (#86), and ''
Captain Atom
Captain Atom is a superhero appearing in American comic books, first in the 1960s by Charlton Comics before being acquired in the 1980s by DC Comics. Captain Atom has existed in three basic incarnations.
Publication history
Captain Atom was crea ...
'' (#30). ''Checkmate!'' and ''Suicide Squad'' were published biweekly for the duration of the event.
The storyline focused on the covert operations super-teams and organizations that existed in the
DC Universe
The DC Universe (DCU) is the fictional shared universe where most stories in American comic book titles published by DC Comics take place. Superheroes such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Robin, Martian Manhunter, The Flash, Green Lant ...
at the time.
Plot
Suicide Squad leader
Amanda Waller
Amanda Blake Waller (née White), also known as "the Wall", is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in ''Legends'' #1 in 1986 and was created by John Ostrander, Len Wein, and ...
begins sending her agents on missions in the apparent pursuit of her own private agenda, the so-called "Janus Directive", bringing the Squad into conflict with other metahuman villains and government agencies. All-out mayhem breaks loose among these groups, involving various metahumans associated with the United States military and civilian agencies.
It is revealed that Waller has not gone rogue - cult leader
Kobra tried to murder Waller and replace her with a subservient
doppelgänger in order to manipulate and mislead the various government agencies to keep them from stopping his own plan. Kobra plans to activate a massive space-based microwave pulse cannon that would fry all electronic systems (not to mention human nervous systems) in the eastern United States, unleashing the
Kali Yuga, the age of chaos he believes it is his destiny to commence. Waller has murdered her double and is playing the role of traitor in order to ferret out the true mastermind behind the Janus Directive. Eventually, the truth is revealed, the groups unite and storm Kobra's space ark, capturing him and destroying his weapon.
The fallout of the Janus Directive results in an irate
President Bush reorganizing the various agencies to bring them under executive control; he dissolves
Task Force X
The following is a list of fictional government agencies, comic book organizations that have been published by DC Comics and their imprints.
A Agency
The Agency was formed by Amanda Waller to serve as a small, quasi-independent branch of Task ...
, the umbrella organization under which both Checkmate and the Squad operated (the component agencies becoming autonomous), and makes
Sarge Steel
Sarge Steel is a detective/ spy character published by Charlton Comics during the 1960s. As he was published during the time of Charlton's ''Action Heroes'' line of superheroes, and had loose ties to some, he is sometimes included with that group. ...
a
Cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filing ...
-level official with overall control of all governmental metahuman activity on the civilian side.
General Wade Eiling
General Wade Eiling, sometimes known as The General, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.
Publication history
Wade Eiling first appeared in ''Captain Atom'' #1 (March 1987) and was created by Cary Ba ...
is made his equivalent in the
Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to:
Current departments of defence
* Department of Defence (Australia)
* Department of National Defence (Canada)
* Department of Defence (Ireland)
* Department of National Defense (Philipp ...
. Waller is put on probation by Bush because of her "lone wolf" tactics, much to her displeasure.
Waller is soon imprisoned for taking matters into her own hands after leading an assassination team to personally liquidate the
Vodou-oriented drug ring called the
Loa
( ), also called loa or loi, are spirits in the African diasporic religion of Haitian Vodou. They have also been incorporated into some revivalist forms of Louisiana Voodoo. Many of the lwa derive their identities in part from deities venerat ...
. This leads to the shutdown of all Suicide Squad operations for one year.
Major players
While individual operatives like
Firestorm
A firestorm is a conflagration which attains such intensity that it creates and sustains its own wind system. It is most commonly a natural phenomenon, created during some of the largest bushfires and wildfires. Although the term has been used ...
(Ronald Raymond),
Firehawk and
Manhunter (Mark Shaw) did play a part in the storyline's resolution, they were nowhere as important as the characters in this chart.
Tie-in issues
* Part 1: ''Checkmate!'' #15 (May 1989)
* Part 2: ''Suicide Squad'' #27 (May 1989)
* Part 3: ''Checkmate!'' #16 (May 1989)
* Part 4: ''Suicide Squad'' #28 (May 1989)
* Part 5: ''Checkmate!'' #17 (June 1989)
* Part 6: ''Manhunter'' #14 (June 1989)
* Part 7: ''Firestorm the Nuclear Man'' (vol. 2) #86 (June 1989)
* Part 8: ''Suicide Squad'' #29 (June 1989)
* Part 9: ''Checkmate!'' #18 (June 1989)
* Part 10: ''Suicide Squad'' #30 (June 1989)
* Part 11: ''Captain Atom'' #30 (June 1989)
* ''Firestorm the Nuclear Man'' (vol. 2) #87
Although not bannered as a part of the crossover, parts of ''Firestorm the Nuclear Man'' (vol. 2) #87 were an epilogue to the storyline.
See also
*
List of government agencies in DC Comics
The following is a list of fictional government agencies, comic book organizations that have been published by DC Comics and their imprints.
A Agency
The Agency was formed by Amanda Waller to serve as a small, quasi-independent branch of Task ...
External links
The Unofficial Comics Crossover Index - The Janus Directive
{{Suicide Squad
1989 in comics
Comics by John Ostrander
Comics by Paul Kupperberg
Crossover comics
DC Comics storylines