This was the first issue of DC SPECIAL to go all-new, and which signaled the end of reprint comics at DC for the time being. There’d still be a few stragglers, but from this point forward, virtually everything the company published in regular comic book form (and even in Treasury format) would be original material. I bought it at the 7-11 because I already liked Captain Comet from the pages of SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER VILLAINS, so i was happy to see him headlining in another book. His strange co-star, Tommy Tomorrow, I didn’t have any feeling for one way or the other.
One of the big themes throughout the 1970s in comic book publishing was that everybody was looking for the next trend, the next big hit. After the boom of the Batman TV Show-era of the 1960s, super heroes were seen as a genre that was on its last legs and might soon fade away. As a result, there was a sustained rush to find something new that would interest young audiences just as much. Barbarian comics, weird/mystery comics, newish western comics, movie adaptations and continuations, literary adaptations–all sorts of things were tried. As it turned out, super heroes still had plenty of life in them. But all of that explains why this particular issue of DC SPECIAL is devoted to Dinosaurs. Maybe this would be the new hot-button trend that would move units.
For all that, this is still a super hero comic, and it opens with a strange meteoroid tearing across the cosmos both in 1977 near the Justice League satellite and simultaneously in 2056 in deep space, where Tommy Tomorrow is returning from an assignment. The meteoroid tears a gash in the fabric of time and space, drawing Tommy’s craft into the past and also getting the attention of Hawkman and Captain Comet, who are hanging out on the JLA satellite on monitor duty. The meteoroid further makes its way back to 100,000,000 BC, and the rift it’s created allows the dinosaurs living in that era to pass into the present day of 1977.
Back in the past, the radiations from the downed meteoroid mutate one of the native dinosaurs into the advanced humanoid Tyrano Rex, who proclaims the rock from space to be his god. Recognizing that their craft has been pulled into the past, Tommy Tomorrow and the Doctor he was escorting to treat a desperate plague situation in the Vega system head out to try to locate the meteoroid and work out a way to get home. They cross paths with Tyrano Rex, who orders his dinosaur brethren to attack them. All Tommy has is a handgun, and its charge will be depleted eventually, but it’s enough to fend off their attackers.
In the present, Hawkman leaves Captain Comet to hold down the fort while he ventures forth to rescue civilians imperiled by the dinosaurs. Comet uses the JLA monitors to check in on how other heroes are doing around the globe, and sees Chronos in front of a huge time portal. Thinking him a fellow hero, Comet streaks to his aid, figuring that the portal must be where the dinosaurs are coming from. He and Chronos fight side-by-side, and Comet’s mental telepathy tells him that Chronos is no hero, and that he’s actually responsible for this whole situation. Comet goes to try to close the portal, but Chronos intercedes–he’s after the meteoroid, too,and needs the portal to remain open until he can retrieve it for himself.
Back in the past, Tommy and the Doctor run the gantlet of savage dinosaurs, making their way back to their ship. They’ve seen the portal on their side, and realize that it’s the key to getting back to their own era. They direct their ship to fly towards the portal, and scoop up the meteoroid as they pass it, to power their journey back to the present. Unfortunately, they also get Tyrano Rex, who clings to his god-rock even as it is stolen.
So it’s a dual race, as Tommy and the Doctor try to hold off Tyrano Rex until their ship can get back to the future, while the time-corridor is closing because of Captain Comet’s efforts in 1977. The end result is that the ship, the meteoroid and Tyrano Rex all wind up coming through the portal in 1977. Tyrano shouts his claim over the rock, which tees Chronos off, and as the time-thief tries to get it away from the intelligent dinosaur-man, his shots go awry and wind up pulverizing the meteor.
Unfortunately, this causes Tyrano Rex to revert to his original dinosaur state, right in the middle of the city. Tommy uses his space-gun to distract the beast so that Comet can get the drop on him, and then summoning all his power, hurl him back through the closing portal. Meanwhile, his prize now lost, Chronos attempts to sneak away, but Tommy gets the drop on him, and holds him for Captain Comet (who he recognizes from the history books.) And then, in a short epilogue set back on the JLA satellite, Superman shows up, ready to take Tommy and his ship back to 2056 in plenty of time to avert that outbreak of plague. Hawkman and Captain Comet even get in a bit of good-natured ribbing.
Writer Bob Rozakis also contributed an amusing text page outlining how the story and project came about. There was also an uncredited history of Tommy Tomorrow text feature that looks to me like it could have been done either by editor Paul Levitz or, again, Rozakis. Apparently, this issue didn’t sell particularly well, as there were no further dinosaur-themed specials, nor for that matter solo stories featuring either Captain Comet or Tommy Tomorrow, not for a good while.
time dad has officially SNAPPED!!!!! his waist is SNATCHED!!!!! tits out here but this lewk is a PUSSY out look. We Stan a king.
initially I just wanted to draw a formal outfit w a cape coat but then I had the idea of designing a T2. He still has steampunk elements but this look is more of a celestial mage/emperor vibe. The astrology motif here is inspired from depictions of chronos turning the zodiac wheel, hence explaining the cape’s back pattern
Otherwise, omg I am in love w this and I’m super proud of how it turned out, hope y'all like it too uwu
Astrology functions as an assessment of temporal quality, but is the archetype of time ruled by any particular sign?
Preface The wheel of the zodiac is often depicted with Aries on the left, thus keeping it in line with the houses: that is, Aries corresponds to the ascendant and first house, Taurus occupies the second house, and so on.
However, there are some interesting patterns that emerge under other rotations. Rotating the wheel one sign counter clockwise, so that the first house is held by Taurus, we find Cancer and Leo on either side of the nadir, the lowest point of the wheel. This emphasizes the wonderful symmetry between each pair of signs that share rulers:
The exception being, of course, the Sun and Moon which rule one sign each. This might point to a secret identification between these forces, which are typically conceptualized as the most fundamental opposites: consciousness and the unconscious, light and dark, etc. The arcane marriage of these principles is a motif which humanity has been pondering since antiquity. Positioning this syzygy at the bottom of the wheel gives the impression that the other signs spring forth from this coupling as a series of portraits from one luminary to the other; as call and response music, or dance steps. One can say that the entire zodiac functions as a mythological alphabet that elaborates of the riddle of the Sun and Moon.
Time Under this cosmic lens, let’s examine a feature essential to our experience of the universe: time. Where does time show up in the zodiac? Can any particular sign be said to govern this concept? At the very least, we can draw the strongest general associations between time and these signs:
If you ask astrologers which sign most corresponds to the concept of time, Gemini would be a common and reasonable answer. It is the traditional ruler of clocks and measurements of time, and is said to rule the time-dependent concepts of transit and commuting.
Capricorn is another traditional response, since it rules the schedule, the time table, the restriction of time, the inexorable march of time. Father Time, the bearded old man with the scythe and the hourglass, is one of the most well known personifications of Saturn.
Aquarius is a bit more esoteric in this regard, but perfectly valid. Aquarius is most associated with the concepts of the instant, the moment … suddenness! Moreover, it is the traditional ruler of kairos, the ancient Greek idea of “pregnant time.” From Wikipedia:
The ancient Greeks had two words for time: chronos (χρόνος) and kairos. The former refers to chronological or sequential time, while the latter signifies a proper or opportune time for action. While chronos is quantitative, kairos has a qualitative, permanent nature.
Chronos is a clear attribute of Capricorn, therefore these two notions of time are represented by the two Saturn-ruled signs. These two signs are farthest from our supposed origin-nadir, the Cancer/Leo threshold. Capricorn is opposite Cancer, and Aquarius is opposite Leo. This suits the mythological conception of Saturn as the demiurge, the architect of mundane incarnation, the mechanic of the machinery of the cosmos.
To complete this symmetry, we would hope that Virgo is also associated with time. That way, Saturn-ruled signs can roost up at the dome of time, representing its furthest limits, while Mercury ruled signs can reflect each other as attendants to the atemporal solar/lunar archetypes, initiating those forces into the game of time. Gemini does this job perfectly for the Moon, showing how time is “reflected” in the mind through the image of the clock.
So, is Virgo then one of our rulers of time? Ever humble and self-diminishing, Virgo does not jump out as readily as the others, but it does indeed complete a very crucial and unglamorous role. Any astrologer will tell you that Virgo rules punctuality. That is, the adherence to time. If Gemini is the clock at the train station, and Capricorn is the schedule, and Aquarius is the fortune of sliding through the closing door, then Virgo is the plain fact of showing up on time.
So it is clear that there are affinities between rulerships. The two mercury-ruled signs rule basic, mundane relationships to time: time measurement and time observance. The two Saturn-ruled signs rule the extremes of time: time’s bondage and time’s potentiation. There are also affinities between elements, which we explore later. But there are also delightful parallels between the pairs of signs which share no essential qualities. Consider that Gemini and Capricorn both rule structural, objective attributes of time, summarized by the clock and the schedule respectively. The other pair rules more subjective qualities of time: Virgo corresponds to the season, and Aquarius to the zeitgeist.
Elemental Purports What does it mean that all four of these time-governing signs are earth or air? At the most obvious level, we should note that in the cultural imagination water and fire are characterized by motion, while earth and air are not. Air is about potentiation; it is the closest element to pure yang. It is the breath, which corresponds esoterically to the pneuma, the coherence of spirit which vivifies matter. It is atmosphere: that which surrounds every atom, and every germ of life, from the smallest bud to the egg of the cosmos. In a sense, pure potentiation means being eternally unborn. It is actually full activity—boundless perpetual motion—or “unlimited wind” in the Vedas—the inexhaustible first word of creation which has no duration, and obviously no equivalent upon the time-dependent material plane.
That plane is brought to us in part by earth, the closest element to pure yin. It is easy to understand how “pure passivity” is not comprehensible within time—easier than the concept of “pure activity” which we looked at previously. There is only ever the appearance of stillness in our perception; never an object which is actually fully static. The signature “movements” of matter may be entropy and decay.
We should also understand the conventional elemental associations with the astrological attitudes: cardinality is “like” fire; fixidity like earth; mutability like air. Therefore these time signs are:
The airy part of air (Gemini)
The airy part of earth (Virgo)
The fiery part of earth (Capricorn)
The earthy part of air (Aquarius)
So earth is implicated in three of these, and air is implicated in three of these. The only exception to air is the fiery part of earth; earth in its cardinal aspect. This means it is the apparent, self-projecting aspect of earth; earth with its essence on display. Capricorn governs, if you’ll remember, the bondage aspect of time, and the sign that is the most common answer to the naive question of time rulership.
The only exception to earth is the airy part of air: Gemini. This is notably the second-most common response to the question of time rulership. And, as we have seen, together Gemini and Capricorn account for the objective qualities of time. Here’s a weird one: if Gemini and Capricorn are the most obvious rulers of time, perhaps that is partially due to the subjective quality of our time, which is so concerned with, and aware of, objective qualities!
Or maybe it is the fact that the subjective qualities of time are defined by contradiction, and thus more difficult to understand in any age. After all, what is the “earthy part of air” and “the airy part of earth”? There does seem to be an especially elusive mystery about Aquarius: the concept of kairos, but also of the wish, and of heaven. What are we to make of the fact that Aquarius is “familiar to the alien”? Or the fact that it is associated both with the moment and with “timelessness”? We have seen air as pure potentiation, necessitating boundless movement; how could there be a “fixed” expression of such a principle?
In contradiction to the most “alien” sign, Virgo is typically tagged as the most mundane sign. The relative anonymity of Virgo is also contrasted with the radical idiosyncrasy of Aquarius. And its tradition-mindedness would appear also to chafe against Aquarian novelty. Yet let us remember what these signs share: they given definition to the subjective attributes of time. We mentioned that Aquarius holds both the uniqueness of the moment, and the unchanging eternal, but Virgo holds this mystery too. Virgo’s anonymity comes from a deep, intuitive understand that we are all the same. That is why the goddess and the virgin go by so many names. In fact, they necessitate that many names, because the multiplicity of the expression is part of the expression. Virgo is the scattering of the atoms; matter in full possible diffusion. The secondary ruler of Virgo, besides mercury, is not one planet but an abundance of asteroids. Virgo knows both “I am a link in a chain” and also “I am this link.” What is punctuality but specificity? What is a unit of matter but a detail? Virgo knows both, “This season has come before,” and also, “This summer is this summer.”
Summary The wind of Gemini is the wind that blows in the quality of time, existing in some unknowable potentiation beyond this world. Capricorn is the slow-burn of matter upon which quality plays, and is thereby bound. Virgo rotates the wheel, perpetuating the cycle through its incremental movement. The rotations are then recognized by their quality of motion. Aquarius imagines the wheel stopped, glimpsed in gestalt, and the wheel is recognized by the quality of its stillness. Cumulatively, these four archetypes collaborate to describe the terms of the dance through which psyche extends itself into its many other guises.
Chronos is the personification ofTime in pre-Socratic philosophy and later literature. Chronos governed linear, chronological time. The identification became more widespread during the Renaissance, giving rise to the allegory of “Father Time” wielding the harvesting scythe. He was depicted as a man turning the Zodiac Wheel.
Co-op skill: High Wind Attack 5 + Chain Plus (attack type) Performs a water physical attack with 280% of power. Also, the chain counter number will increase by 5 (only if the chain is active). (wait time 05:00)
Wind 6☆ Bisley Karcsi Bakur [Chromatus]
Stats at LV80 HP: 23,000 | Power: 2,300 (+1200 in Chromatus) | Defense: 1700 (-600 in Chromatus)
EX Skill: When a wind party member is on a frame with an Attack UP buff on it, the frame’s boost effect will be increased by 40%, if it’s on a OverLimit boost frame, the gauge will be powered with an addition of 2 (points)
Ex Skill (Awakened Mode): “Chromatus” When the first bar of the OverLimit gauge is full, the Chromatus will be activated automatically. When the OverLimit gauge is empty, the Chromatus will end. The Chromatus will boost the attack by 1200 and lowers the defense by 600, and the artes will change.
Spoilers for Justice League vs The Legion of Super-Heroes #3!
Here’s one page from the official preview, and you can see the rest at Adventures In Poor Taste.
There’s some kind of time disaster brewing, and Batman pulls up a list of some usual suspects in the 21st century. Alongside Eobard, that’s Dr Manhattan, Chronos, Per Degaton, Rip Hunter, and the Time Commander.
