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We begin this feature with Lady Obie's exploration of Obsidian's prospects for rehabilitation as a comics character, one whose concept has come to involve not only a life of personal tragedy, but some degree of editorial tragedy as well. Some related exploration of the editorial problems besetting this somber young superhero appear here and here.

Can Obsidian Be Saved? by Lady Obie

Confront the dark parts of yourself, and work to banish them with illumination and forgiveness. Your willingness to wrestle with your demons will cause your angels to sing. Use the pain as fuel, as a reminder of your strength.
-- August Wilson

I've opted to start this out with a quote as a tribute to one of my favorite things about Infinity Inc., the monthly comic series in which Obsidian was one of the members of a short-lived superteam created to modernize the JSA legacy.

The quotes they had at the start of many issues of Infinity Inc. were and still are one of my favorite things about those comics.

This quote summarizes both the disasters Obsidian has been through in the past and his potential for revitalization in the future. I do not think the road has ended for him with villainy as the only way he can get out of a dead end.

Without Earth 2 Where Am I?

On Earth 2 Obsidian had a rather unique niche among his Infinity, Inc. teammates and other heroes. He literally stood both as a counterpoint and balance to the light-powered members of his family: his father Sentinel (a.k.a. the GA Green Lantern) and his twin sister Jade.

With his dark powers he could've easily slipped into corruption from the earliest point on, recalling the old cliche that light is good and darkness is evil.

But despite that for a long time he was a hero! He even remained one when DC's famed Crisis deprived him of a world where he was more special. Suddenly he was thrust onto one earth where thousands of already established heroes existed, even others with powers over darkness like his: Nightshade, Umbra from the Legion of Super-heroes (I know she's from the distant future but many LSHer's have traveled to our time so the DCU general public might be aware of her) and Shade, a Golden Age origin villain who is something of a wildcard having acted heroically in helping some of his friends.

I know DC has made some attempts to fit the Earth 2 heroes onto the single Earth created as a result of Crisis but they often fumbled with both the Infinitors and their forebears, the JSA.

Only recently has the JSA itself made a recovery but many of its Golden Age heroes perished prior to the current revival. Ironically, some JSA fans refer to the current team as a new Infinity, Inc. because of the fact most of the current team members are fairly new and relatively young heroes compared to the original JSA (which is represented by it's last three original members who are still healthy enough to be active as superheroes: Sentinel, Golden Age Flash Jay Garrick, and Wildcat).

Dreams in Darkness

Without either Infinity, Inc. or Earth 2 Obsidian was essentially homeless, becoming an outcast hero on the fringes of the DCU.

DC tried using him as both his human alter ego Todd Rice (wish I could say Todd Rice Scott or Todd Scott here but DC seems extremely reluctant to find a way to give the kids their father's name - Jennie-Lynn Hayden-Scott got a short lived try that disappeared about as fast as it happened, and they never even tried Todd out with Alan's name) and his - dare I say, "heroic persona?" - Obsidian.

When Todd was in civvies he was generally fine. He's had several cameos this way in comics such as Green Lantern (note issues 19 and 109 of the current run) and Green Lantern Corps Quarterly where he was shown chatting and casually interacting with his family in a benevolent manner.

His more recent appearances in JSA #1 and #5, of course, contradict this. It was obvious in both of those comics he wasn't a happy camper, especially when he was shown lashing out at his abusive adoptive father in JSA #5.

But put him in tights and WHAMMO! LOOK OUT BELOW!!!

He had one heroic guest cameo since Infinity, Inc. that was really true to his character. It was in Superman #46 (2nd series) from '90. He and Jade guested helping Superman fight off a weird villain named Terra-Man. After the battle Supes gave the twins a big thank you for their help!

Then came Obsidian's big break (eh, maybe not) in the Zero Hour Justice League of America, issues 0 and 93-113, which ran from '94 - '96. The Justice League was really weird at this time (among other oddities were some other heroes' assumptions that Todd and Al were a gay couple!) but he did have a few good heroic moments.

The Justice League of America handling of him was especially awkward in one scene. He was shown wearing a nice suit on a date with a young woman. The problem? His head was in costume, black face, blue hood. It's not like he has a secret ID - the Infinitors revealed themselves years ago - so why couldn't Justice League of America give us Todd on a date with his normal human appearance?

Then there were the Green Lantern Obsidian disasters. Green Lantern #86 featured Jennie moving in with Kyle. The fun began when Todd saw Kyle holding a pair of Jen's panties, which had accidently popped out of one of her bags, and Todd assumed the worst (of course it would be several months before 'the worst' would actually begin happening). Todd transformed and started beating up on Kyle who then transformed into Green Lantern to fight him off. The fight was resolved when Jennie intervened and forced both young men to come to their senses.

The famed GL/Sentinel: Heart of Darkness mini was our first true taste of Obsidian as an all-out villain. He was controlled by the evil Starheart, helping in the capture of Alan and Kyle (the Starheart had already taken Jennie on his own). By the end of the story it was established he was controlled by the Starheart and not acting of his own free will.

But obviously some future JSA writers enjoyed seeing his potential as a villain, because a year later we have the preludes that lead up to the infamous "Darkness Falls" (or, as I like to call it, "Dreckmess Falls") saga in JSA #7-#9. It seemed at the start that Todd was being manipulated by Ian Karkull but when he destroyed Ian near the end of issue #8 it was pretty obvious who was pulling his strings.

The capstone of this tale is how things ended in JSA #9 for Obsidian. He was badly hurt due to an attack by his father. He prepares to return to the Shadowlands and tries to make a grab for his father to drag him in with him. But then Jim Rice, Todd's abusive adoptive father, decides to play hero and steps between Alan and Todd. Thus Jim gets inadvertently dragged into the Shadowlands with the adoptive son he beat up on as a child. Alan thought his son had perished and expressed his grief and regret to Jennie moments later.

Perhaps Todd didn't deserve that fate but I think that Jim did for what he had done to Todd while he was growing up.

JSA #21 hints Jennie senses Todd is still alive. She can feel him through a psychic connection they share. Unfortunately, at that point it is revealed he is still corrupt. Jennie says to her father she has been having nightmares because she senses Todd still wants to hurt his friends and family.

Impressed?

I know things aren't yet over for Obsidian in JSA. There is even a chance he'll be redeemed but we'll have to wait a bit to see what happens.

Visions of Light

I know it will in reality never happen. I have no desire to be a pro comics writer.

BUT......

If I were a pro writer - and DC were to contact me for my ideas to fix up Obsidian - what would I do? What could I do?

First, I'd see if it's possible to give Todd some form of self-actualization - for him to be able to understand himself and his powers enough in order to enable him to gain at least a modicum of control over his lives as both Todd and Obsidian, and not to keep running in fear from his humanity and dark powers.

He needs to come to grips with his abusive childhood, his sexuality and ability to have relationships based on it (some fans have speculated he may be a closeted homosexual - only time and future comics writers can tell us for sure whether he's gay, bi or straight); his relationships with his friends and family; and, finally, that his life can and does have some important noble purpose - that he's not just on this planet to be a burden and source of misery for himself and others.

As for his powers, my inclination is once Todd gains control over other aspects of his life he'll be able to manipulate and handle all aspects of his powers more comfortably. His powers may be dark - and their source may contain a strong evil inclination - but if Obsidian has even a fraction of his father's strong will and confidence he should be just fine.

It has been shown that Sentinel's own powers have a corrupt influence as well. Yet will we see a version of "Darkness Falls" where Alan goes postal and attacks his loved ones? I doubt it. Comics writers don't tend to look for a direct corruption potential that they can exploit within Alan himself.

If Alan can be strong enough to handle all aspects of his powers sans corruption I firmly believe his son can be, too.

Only time and DC Comics will tell!

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