Janus Directive

The Janus Directive was a 1989 11-part ‘mini’ cross-over that ran through the issues of Checkmate! v1, Suicide Squad v1, Manhunter v1, Firestorm v2 and Captain Atom v5. Checkmate! and Suicide Squad were both being published bi-weekly during this cross-over. This was DC’s 5th foray into multiple-title cross-overs since Crisis on Infinite Earths (published in 1985).



Masterminded by several writers (including John Ostrander who was writing Suicide Squad, Manhunter AND Firestorm at the time), it was basically a 'government black ops super-teams vs organization hell-bent on ruling world’ type of story.



Interesting to note that the main antagonist, Kobra, is a well-funded international terrorist organization, has access to laser beam satellites and the leader kind of looks like Serpentor (of G.I.Joe) - which begs the question: who came first, DC’s Kobra or Hasbro’s Cobra? Kobra’s first appearance was in 1976 in it’s own title (Kobra #1), and Cobra’s first appearance was in the G.I. Joe toy line in 1982. The Cobra organization itself was the brainchild of Marvel comics (specifically Archie Goodwin) when Hasbro commissioned them to create the comics to accompany the toy line.



During the Reagan years (1981-1988) it was not uncommon for then-president Ronald Reagan to make an appearance in a DC comic. This time Bush Sr made an appearance to lay down the law on how government sponsored super-groups should behave. [Insert speculation about comics being used as a left-wing media tool here.]

As indicated in the house ad above, a black and white checklist card was being distributed by DC comics at comic book shops to help fans make sure they picked up all of the issues in the mini-series.

As far as sales went, I’m not sure how well this cross-over was received by the fans. I really like Suicide Squad, but having to trudge through issues of Checkmate! and Captain Atom to continue the story was kind of a disincentive to keep reading this cross-over.

Check out more Firestorm awesomeness here: http://firestormfan.com/

More suicide squad & checkmate fun: http://suicidesquadtaskforcex.blogspot.ca/