Final Crisis Preview--Gabby Hayes

DC is like the Borg Collective.

Bear with me here.

Lots of what we currently think of as the DC Universe didn't start out that way. When DC comes across a comic universe they want, they just assimilate it into their own:

• Fawcett Comics, home of the Marvel Family, was litigiously bankrupted by DC; than they assimilated it, so now Black Adam and Evil Mary Marvel are an essential part of regular DC continuity.


• Charlton Comics, home of such luminaries as Blue Beetle and Captain Atom, was bought up by DC, and now these heroes are vital parts of DC continuity.


• Archie Comics' superhero line, featuring the Fly and Black Hood, had their rights bought up by DC, although they were published as a separate imprint and didn't last very long.


• Wildstorm. Not content with publishing and distributing Jim Lee's line, the DC Collective assimilated their entire universe, so it's now actually part of the DC Multiverse.

Why do I bring this up? Well, my point is that DC can and will absorb other comic entities into its universe. So when we consider what the DC Universe should look like after Final Crisis, we shouldn't necessarily feel limited to what's currently in the DC universe. DC used the original Crisis, after all, as the excuse to bring the Charlton heroes into their main continuity.

Which bring me to Gabby Hayes.


Gabby Hayes Western was published by Fawcett, but I'm thinking that since it was a licenced title, it didn't come with what DC bought. But, this is someone DC really, really should have starring in their comics in the 21st century.

Just close your eyes and picture these exciting story possibilities:

• Batman and Gabby Hayes working together to catch some codsarned claim-jumpers




• Superman and Gabby teaming up to flummox some dagnabbed space-rustlers




• The story DC has never previously told: how, for a very brief period in the 19th century, Gabby Hayes was the Green Lantern of Sector 2814


• The inevitable reunion of Fawcett heroes Gabby Hayes and Captain Marvel

So, DC, do what it takes. Spend some of those Timer-Warner-AOL bucks on assimilating Gabby and his cohorts into the DC universe. Resistance is futile!!

Gabby in all his ironic prosepector glory is from Gabby Hayes Western #23, 1950