Day of Judgment (comics)

DC comic storyline

For other uses of "Judgement Day" in comics, see Judgement Day (comics).

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"Day of Judgment"

Cover of Day of Judgment #5 (November 1999). Pencils by Matthew Dow Smith and inks by Steve Mitchell.

Publisher| DC Comics
Publication date| November 1999
Genre|

* Superhero
* Crossover

| Title(s)

Day of Judgment #1-5
Anarky (vol. 2) #7
Aquaman (vol. 5) #61
Azrael: Agent of the Bat #58
Batman: Day of Judgment #1
Day of Judgment Secret Files and Origins #1
Green Lantern (vol. 3) #118
Hourman #8
Impulse #54 and 61
JLA #6-7 and 35
Martian Manhunter (vol. 2) #12
Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. #4
Superboy #68
Supergirl (vol. 4) #38
Superman: The Man of Tomorrow #15
The Titans #9
Young Justice #14
JLA: Paradise Lost #1-3
Main character(s)| The Spectre
Hal Jordan
The Sentinels of Magic
Etrigan the Demon
Asmodel
Neron
Creative team
Writer(s)| Geoff Johns
Penciller(s)| Matthew Dow Smith, Christopher Jones (breakdowns)
Inker(s)| Steve Mitchell
Letterer(s)| Comicraft
Colorist(s)| James Sinclair
Editor(s)| Kevin Dooley

Day of Judgment is a multi-title DC Comics miniseries and crossover storyline during the autumn of 1999. The limited series was written by Geoff Johns, with art by Matthew Dow Smith.

The main storyline for the series dealt with the Spectre (whose previous host, Jim Corrigan, had left him when he ascended into Heaven) being bonded to a new host, in the form of the then-deceased Hal Jordan.

## Storyline

[edit]

Endeavoring to cause chaos on Earth, as well as to defeat his enemy and rival demon Neron, Etrigan the Demon arranges for the now-hostless Spectre-Force to be bonded to the renegade King-Angel Asmodel, who uses the Spectre's power to freeze Hell and release hordes of demons on Earth. This action also results in villains, such as the Enchantress, being released. Earth's conventional heroes are powerless against Asmodel's onslaught. With the regular heroes having fallen, it is up to the newly-formed Sentinels of Magic \- consisting of Doctor Occult, Zatanna, the Phantom Stranger, Madame Xanadu, Deadman, Raven, Ragman, Sentinel and Sebastian Faust \- to stand against the Spectre/Asmodel.

To vanquish Asmodel, the Sentinels and the other heroes divide into three groups: a 'home front' to defend Earth, a team to reignite the fires of Hell and a team to search for Jim Corrigan in Heaven and convince him to become the Spectre again. Although the team who is at Hell falls into the River Styx after a fight with Cerberus \- being rescued only by the soulless Faust, who is unaffected by the visions that plague his comrades - and the team who is in Heaven fails to recruit Corrigan to their cause, they are directed by the archangel Michael to Purgatory, where a soul in search of redemption may aid them. Selecting Hal Jordan, who is feeling guilty over his actions as Parallax, as the best candidate for the Spectre-Force's new host, the Sentinels bring him to Earth with the aid of other deceased heroes.

While Captain Marvel \- who possesses a "pure" soul - takes the Spear of Destiny to aid in the fight, Faust sacrifices his newly regained soul - the demon who had previously been promised his soul having already been defeated - to restore the fires of Hell by killing the Enchantress. With Marvel having weakened the Spectre, Hal attempts to merge with the Spirit of Vengeance, leading to a three-way battle between himself, Asmodel and Neron - who had hidden inside Superman to gain access to the mortal plane - that is interrupted by the Spectre-Force. At first demanding to know why it should accept any of them as hosts, the Spectre-Force finally chooses Hal when he states that being the Spectre would be an appropriate punishment for what he had done as Parallax. As a result of this choice, Neron is punished by his fellow demon-lords for using Hell's power for his own pleasure by having his royal status stripped from him and being demoted to a Rhyming Demon - which had been Etrigan's plan all along.

The crossover event resulted in the creation of the Sentinels of Magic and Hal Jordan becoming the Spectre's new host for a time.

Certain aspects of this event were later dealt with in Green Lantern: Rebirth (involving Hal Jordan being released from the Spectre-Force) and Day of Vengeance (wherein the again-hostless Spectre-Force once more runs amok on Earth).

## References

[edit]

* Day of Judgment at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)

## External links

[edit]

* Day of Judgment at the DC Database Project

* v
* t
* e

DC Comics crossover event publication history

1980s|

* "Crisis on Infinite Earths" (April 1985)
* "Legends" (November 1986)
* "Millennium" (January 1988)
* "Invasion!" (January 1989)
* "The Janus Directive" (May 1989)

1990s|

* "Armageddon 2001" (May 1991)
* "War of the Gods" (September 1991)
* "Eclipso: The Darkness Within" (July 1992)
* "The Death of Superman" (October 1992)
* "Bloodlines" (1993)
* "The Children's Crusade" (December 1993)
* "Worlds Collide" (July 1994)
* "End of an Era" (August 1994)
* "Zero Hour: Crisis in Time!" (September 1994)
* "Underworld Unleashed" (November 1995)
* "DC vs. Marvel" (April 1996)
* "The Final Night" (November 1996)
* "Genesis" (October 1997)
* "DC One Million" (November 1998)
* "Day of Judgment" (November 1999)
* "JLApe: Gorilla Warfare!" (1999)

2000s|

* "Our Worlds at War" (August 2001)
* "Joker: Last Laugh" (December 2001)
* "JLA/Avengers" (September 2003)
* "Identity Crisis" (June 2004)
* "Infinite Crisis" (December 2005)
* "Amazons Attack!" (March 2007)
* "Sinestro Corps War" (August 2007)
* "Final Crisis" (July 2008)
* "Blackest Night" (June 2009)

2010s|

* "Brightest Day" (May 2010)
* "Reign of Doomsday" (January 2011)
* "Flashpoint" (May 2011)
* "The Culling" (November 2011)
* "Batman: Night of the Owls" (April 2012)
* "Death of the Family" (October 2012)
* "H'El on Earth" (October 2012)
* "Throne of Atlantis" (November 2012)
* "Wrath of the First Lantern" (February 2013)
* "Batman: Zero Year" (June 2013)
* "Trinity War" (July 2013)
* "Forever Evil" (September 2013)
* "Forever Evil: Blight" (October 2013)
* "The New 52: Futures End" (September 2014)
* "Convergence" (April 2015)
* "Darkseid War" (June 2015)
* "The Button" (April 2017)
* "Dark Nights: Metal" (June 2017)
* "The Lazarus Contract" (July 2017)
* "Doomsday Clock" (November 2017)
* "Milk Wars" (March 2018)
* "Heroes in Crisis" (September 2018)
* "The Terminus Agenda" (March 2019)
* "Year of the Villain" (May 2019)

2020s|

* "Dark Nights: Death Metal" (June 2020)
* "Joker War" (September 2020)
* "Generations" (September 2020)
* "Endless Winter" (December 2020)
* "Future State" (January 2021)
* "Infinite Frontier" (June 2021)
* "Fear State" (August 2021)
* "War for Earth-3" (March 2022)
* "Shadow War" (April 2022)
* "Dark Crisis" (May 2022)
* "The New Golden Age" (November 2022)
* "Lazarus Planet" (January 2023)
* "Knight Terrors" (July 2023)
* "Gotham War" (August 2023)
* "Titans: Beast World" (November 2023)
* "House of Brainiac" (April 2024)
* "Absolute Power" (July 2024)

Launch lines|

| DC Universe|

* DC Explosion/DC Implosion (1978)
* The New 52 (2011–2016)
* DC Rebirth (2016–2017)
* The New Age of DC Heroes (2018–2020)
* New Justice (2018–2021)
* The Sandman Universe (2018–2024)
* Infinite Frontier (2021–2023)
* The New Golden Age (2022–2024)
* Dawn of DC (2023–2024)
* DC All In (2024–)

|

Other continuities|

* Hanna-Barbera Beyond (2016–2019)
* Murphyverse (2017–2023)
* Milestone Returns (2020–2025)
* Absolute Universe (2024–)

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