1988
From DC Database
Contents |
Creators
The following creative talent passed away in the year 1988:
- Nobody is known to have died in 1988.
Titles
The following comic titles debuted with a 1988 cover date:
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Vol 1 · Animal Man Vol 1 · Black Orchid Vol 1 · Doctor Fate Vol 2 · Green Arrow Vol 2 · Hellblazer Vol 1 · Invasion! Vol 1 · Manhunter Vol 1 · Martian Manhunter Vol 1 · Millennium Vol 1 · New Guardians Vol 1 · Peacemaker Vol 2 · Plastic Man Vol 3 · Power Girl Vol 1 · Power of the Atom Vol 1 · Saga of Ra's al Ghul Vol 1 · Sgt. Rock Special Vol 1 · Star Trek: The Next Generation Vol 1 · Starman Vol 1 · Unknown Soldier Vol 2 · V for Vendetta Vol 1 · Weird Vol 1 · Who's Who in the Legion of Super-Heroes Vol 1 · Who's Who: Update '88 Vol 1 · World of Metropolis Vol 1
The following Comic titles were last published with a 1988 cover date:
Blue Beetle Vol 1 · Booster Gold Vol 1 · Doctor Fate Vol 2 · Green Lantern Corps Vol 1 · Green Lantern Vol 2 · Infinity Inc. Vol 1 · Invasion! Vol 1 · Martian Manhunter Vol 1 · Millennium Vol 1 · New Teen Titans Vol 1 · Outsiders Vol 1 · Peacemaker Vol 2 · Phantom Stranger Vol 3 · Power Girl Vol 1 · Saga of Ra's al Ghul Vol 1 · Sgt. Rock Vol 1 · Star Trek Vol 1 · Star Trek: The Next Generation Vol 1 · Sword of the Atom Special Vol 1 · Vigilante Vol 1 · Warlord Vol 1 · Weird Vol 1 · Who's Who in the Legion of Super-Heroes Vol 1 · Who's Who: Update '88 Vol 1 · World of Krypton Vol 2
The following One Shots were published with a 1988 cover date:
Batgirl Special Vol 1 1 · Batman: The Killing Joke Vol 1 1 · Doom Patrol and Suicide Squad Special 1 · Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told (Trade Paperback) Vol 1 1 · Superman: The Earth Stealers Vol 1 1
Characters
The following characters debuted with a 1988 cover date:
Abe Crane (New Earth) · Ada LaBostrie (New Earth) · Agony (New Earth) · Alec Rois (New Earth) · Amos Monroe (New Earth) · Anatoli Knyazev (New Earth) · Arnold Wesker (New Earth) · Baron Sunday (New Earth) · Barter (New Earth) · Benjamin Krullen (New Earth) · Bree'mill (New Earth) · Carlotta Rivera (New Earth) · Celia Windward (New Earth) · Chester Runk (New Earth) · Circe (New Earth) · Clifford Zmeck (New Earth) · Cornelius Stirk (New Earth) · D'aran Tuu (New Earth) · David Winters (New Earth) · Dawn Granger (New Earth) · Dennis Blake (New Earth) · Derek Mitchell (New Earth) · Dexter Fairfax (New Earth) · Dorothy Spinner (New Earth) · Ecstacy (New Earth) · Edward Indelicato (New Earth) · Fidel Castro (New Earth) · Flora Black (New Earth) · Force (New Earth) · Frank Donovan (New Earth) · Franklin Chandler (New Earth) · Fritz Klein (New Earth) · G'Nort (New Earth) · Garryn Bek (New Earth) · Grace Guiness (New Earth) · Grace Kasaba (New Earth) · Gregorio de la Vega (New Earth) · H'ronmeer (New Earth) · Harold Melrose (New Earth) · Hemo-Goblin (New Earth) · Hurricane (New Earth) · Hydra (New Earth) · J'ankway (New Earth) · J. Daniel Murphy (New Earth) · Jack Wyznowski (New Earth) · Jake Tyler (New Earth) · Janos Prohaska (New Earth) · Jayne Payton (New Earth) · Jeffrey Bright (New Earth) · Jeremy Wakefield (New Earth)
Teams
The following teams debuted with a 1988 cover date:
Alien Alliance · Blasters · Blue Boys II · Checkmate · L.E.G.I.O.N. · Power Elite · Soyuz · White Lions
Chronology
The following events were published by DC Comics in the year 1988. This does not necessarily indicate that these storylines took place in the year 1988. The passage of time in the DC Universe is nebulous and subject to change and interpretation. Events from historical time periods are indexed under their corresponding years.
Date Unknown
| Event | Source | Date |
|---|---|---|
| The Fashion Thing begins referring to herself as the "Mad Yuppie Witch". | Sandman (Volume 2) #2 | 2.89 |
| Criminal John Oakes goes to prison for five years. There, he meets the Tattooed Man, who teaches him the art of tattoo magic. Note: Takes place five years before 1993, solidifying the 1988 date. | Skin Graft #1 | 7.93 |
January
| Event | Source | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Millennium: Herupa Hando Hu and Nadia Safir come to Earth to select ten Chosen Earthlings to lead humanity into the next millennium. The super-heroes of Earth agree to help them protect these Chosen. Opposing the unification of the Chosen is the ancient secret society the Manhunters. Note: All events related to Millennium were published from January-February of 1988. | Millennium #1 | 1.88-2.88 |
| Bernard Ferguson manipulates Firestorm into joining the Manhunter cause in Louisiana. | Firestorm the Nuclear Man #67 | 1.88 |
| Doctor Helga Jace reveals herself as a Manhunter agent. She brainwashes Metamorpho into betraying the Outsiders. During the fight, Looker manipulates Metamorpho into attacking Jace. She fires a laser weapon at him that interacts with his composition creating an explosion that kills Jace. | Outsiders (Volume 1) #27 | 1.88 |
| Event | Source | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Dick Grayson moves into Koriandr's apartment in Manhattan. | New Teen Titans v.2 #39 | 1.88 |
| General Zastrow goes to Siberia to meet with Russian super-soldier Stalnoivolk. | Firestorm the Nuclear Man #67 | 1.88 |
| Raven comes to terms with her new emotions. She realizes that she is not truly in love with Dick Grayson. | New Teen Titans v.2 #39 | 1.88 |
February
March
April
| Event | Source | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Alec Rois becomes the Faceless One and tries to murder Martin Lockleed. He fights Captain Atom and Nightshade, but escapes. Note: This event actually takes place on December 27th, 1987. | Captain Atom #14 | 4.88 |
May
| Event | Source | Date |
|---|---|---|
| The Martian Manhunter receives psychic visions from the Martian death god H'ronmeer and begins lashing out. Batman brings him to the Batcave for analysis. | Martian Manhunter #1 | 5.88 |
June
| Event | Source | Date |
|---|---|---|
| H'ronmeer communes with Mr. Miracle and warns him of Martian Manhunter's psychic state. When the Manhunter learns of this, he feels that Mr. Miracle has betrayed him. | Martian Manhunter #2 | 6.88 |
| The Martian Manhunter reunites with Saul Erdel, the man who first brought him to Earth. | Martian Manhunter #2 | 6.88 |
| An ancient Atlantean Wizard, the Weaver, decides to avenge himself against his old foe Arion, by striking out his (perceived) granddaughter, Power Girl. He sends an agent named the Force after her, but he fails to defeat her. | Power Girl #1 | 6.88 |
July
| Event | Source | Date |
|---|---|---|
| The Martian Manhunter learns more about his Martian heritage as well as H'ronmeer's Curse. | Martian Manhunter #3 | 7.88 |
| The Weaver sends Hydra, Hurricane and Pyro after Power Girl, but each of them fail in their respective missions to destroy her. | Power Girl #2 | 7.88 |
August
| Event | Source | Date |
|---|---|---|
| The Martian Manhunter returns to Mars to confront H'ronmeer. He relinquishes the psychic tether binding the spirits of dead Martians to the planet, allowing them to go to the afterlife. | Martian Manhunter #4 | 8.88 |
| The Martian Manhunter assumes his true Martian form for the first time in years. | Martian Manhunter #4 | 8.88 |
September
| Event | Source | Date |
|---|---|---|
| September 14th: Elderly occultist Alexander Burgess accidentally breaks the mystic ward that has held Dream imprisoned for more than 70 years. Now free, Dream torments his captor with the curse of Eternal Waking. Note: Although published with a Jan-89 cover date, this event actually takes place in September of 1988. | Sandman (Volume 2) #1 | 1.89 |
October
November
| Event | Source | Date |
|---|---|---|
| While investigating a string of bizarre murders in Gotham City, Batman is infected by a group of spores from the Grey. He goes missing for several weeks and eventually turns up in Louisiana. He encounters the Swamp Thing who purges the spores from his body. | Swamp Thing Annual #4 | 11.88 |
| Jimmy Olsen goes undercover to infiltrate Fate Eddie Cortes' drug cartel. Fate Eddie learns the truth about Jimmy and leaves him to drown in the flooded bowl of a derelict. Jimmy uses his signal watch to contact Superman to rescue him. | World of Metropolis #4 | 11.88 |
December
| Event | Source | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Cosmic Odyssey (Dec-March '89): The Anti-Life Equation develops sentience and splits into four equal parts. Highfather of New Genesis and Darkseid of Apokolips form a temporary alliance in order to gain control of the fractured aspects. The Anti-Life Equation evolves into the Anti-Life Entity. | Cosmic Odyssey #1 | 12.88 |
| Checkmate begins investigating a counterfeiting ring who have stolen printing plates from the Treasury Dept. They send Knight Roger Dayton to track down and destroy the counterfeiters stronghold, but he runs into trouble when he tackles a muscle-bound criminal named Claymore. | Checkmate #9 | 12.88 |
| The Swamp Thing attempts to avenge himself against Lex Luthor for "killing" him and attacks Lexcorp Tower. Superman confronts him and convinces the Swamp Thing to let the human authorities deal with Luthor. | Swamp Thing v.2 #79 | 12.88 |
| The Dominators make a pre-emptive strike against Earth by targeting the Swamp Thing. They use a Matrix Disruptor to fling his essence across the timestream. | Swamp Thing v.2 #80 | 12.88 |
| Invasion: The Dominators send an alien scout named Widowsfeed to capture the pregnant Abigail Holland. Widowsfeed has a change of heart and decides to let Abby go. Guy Gardner arrives and blasts Widowsfeed's ship out of the sky, apparently killing her. | Swamp Thing v.2 #81 | Holiday.1988 |
