Just finished IC #6... <spoilers>

[plitch]

How does that work with cell phones?

[drice6900]

Walkie-talkies?

[plitch]

'Cause Jean was on a cell phone...

[WiseGuyX]

Bruce Wayne/Batman is a better suspect.

 

I don't think he did it, but he could have discovered his mindwipe and wants revenge - the loss of control has made him unstable.

 

Sue's rape was the trigger for the other leaguers to "adjust him".

 

Killing Tim's dad makes Tim an orphan, completely under his control.

 

He would have the knowledge and access to the tech to recreate the powers of nearly any hero/villain to throw off the scent.

 

He's considered beyond reproach by most of the heroes.

 

He has had unrestricted access to all of the crime scenes.

 

He knows that Superman and Clark Kent are one in the same.

 

He thinks the community is too at ease and needs to shake things up. Setting all of the heroes loose on the existing villain community "cleans" things up. Less supervillains around = less crime.

 

He hates what they did to Dr. Light and makes it possible for his memories to be returned.

 

NO!!!!!! How can you even think my Batman would do something like this

 

Well then again he is big on the Revenge deal

Big On revenge not Murder!

I dont think Batman did it!

 

I think Jean Loring is involved!

What if someone wanted access to more of Rays Patents!

 

I know

 

There is no way I could believe Batman would do something like that

 

PS. I agree with the Jean theory also although I still think someone may have been mind controlling people like Ray The plot thinkens

 

It's certianly not Batman, but it's fun to imagin the mother of all $hitstorms that would drop on DC if it was...

 

I'll march on DC's HQ and let them know what I think

 

Knowing my luck it probly was Batman, they probly fried half his mind. One part is killing people while the other is helping to solve the case. But really it's to hard to tell with stuff like: Mid Control, Mindwhiping, and shrinking technology floating around this case/story. Then there is that Lex suit but I really wonder if that is just to misdirect us in another direction

[Aman619]

I read isue 6 and now this whole thread and boy you guys are good. So many angles I never saw. So anyway, Im backing Kevin and his Atom#2 or 3 theory. I think the footprints in the brain clue sounds cool at first but i sreally pretty silly, but...... would footprints or indentations of ANY kind "stay" fixed in brain tissue without reverting to its original shape?

 

SO if the footprints are the major clue, it has to be someone who shrinks. That means Ray Palmer or a different Atom with his powers. I dont think Ray goes bad. Turning SA heroes bad Is getting old already.

 

However, this whole series has followed a twisting pattern so far with tons of loose threads. So my next best guesstimate is Sue Dibny. Out outrage, shock and admiration over and for this series was piqued by DC actually killing off a sweet old-time character. And, it did seem unnecessary, overkill one might say. Also, so she was killed, right, and theres a dead body, but as in most mysteries, her face and body are badly scarred and disfigured. We have to ask ourselves WHY? If Sue is dead and thats DC plan and legacy of this series, why play games?

 

Unless Sue is the killer behind all this or a part of it?? That way, we get Sue back alive with only a few other minor characters dead and real twist ending

 

but, to me, even after typing all this. Im lost. I dont know WHERE theyre going with this story! At least with HUSH it was pretty obvious after the penultomate issue and it was a good ride even with the good Doctor turning out to be the eventual (and most obvious) master villain. Here, we have a hundred clues and this coul dend any which way they want it to from left field!

 

I hope its not a letdown.

[Aman619]

'Cause Jean was on a cell phone...

 

thats a good point. Old fashioned phone messages travelled as electrons along copper wires. But cell phones give off waves...and therefore, if I understand physics a bit, there's nothing for Atom to ride on. Unless they will reconfigure Atom's "power" to be able to travel along the airwaves, in which case he can literally transport anywhere from now on since the air is FULL of radio, TV, cellphone, magnetic etc waves!

[Aman619]

also, Im starting to agree that Batman has a part in this. SO here it is: He finds out he was wiped and is piissed. SO he teams up with Sue (who was against the wiping, wasnt she?) and Jean AND Ray (who stomped his feet in that dead body's brain) --- and Batman orchestrates this whole thing to teach the original 7 a lesson!! But it all spins out of control and people get hurt.

 

okay, here are the problems: Batman just orchestrated that whole Gang War thing which also spiralled out of his control. And , Batman also perpetrated a similar anto JLA plot early on in this new title when it was discovere dthat Bats had constructed fail safes for each members powers. He didnt make any friends back then, so Im not sure he (or DC) would do it again..

 

.......

[Illiterati-migration]

Atom usually travels along the phone lines in his subatomic form.

 

Who did Sue Dibny receive a call from just before the killer arrives... she got a call from Alfred... FROM THE BATCAVE!

 

Bats picked up the line, shrank down and entered her head thru her ear before she hung up the phone.

 

She thinks she hears something coming from downstairs, in reality she looks to her right because she thinks she hears something ON HER RIGHT SIDE... THE SIDE THAT WAS LISTENING TO THE PHONE!

 

Then he entered her skull, stepped on her Mid-Medulla and killed her.

 

Only flaw to this is Batman seems to be actively tracking the killer, could he not know? Has he developed MPD as a result of the JLA messing with his brain?

 

I think you're on the right track here... but there's nothing that says it couldn't have been the Atom himself that hopped the line from the Batcave to Sue Dibny's Medulla... of course, it would be one helluva coincidence that he would be there right when Alfred was calling...

 

Hmmm. Pieces are falling into place. This definitely bears further review via another reading tonight.

 

[Ares]

Atom usually travels along the phone lines in his subatomic form.

 

Who did Sue Dibny receive a call from just before the killer arrives... she got a call from Alfred... FROM THE BATCAVE!

 

Bats picked up the line, shrank down and entered her head thru her ear before she hung up the phone.

 

She thinks she hears something coming from downstairs, in reality she looks to her right because she thinks she hears something ON HER RIGHT SIDE... THE SIDE THAT WAS LISTENING TO THE PHONE!

 

Then he entered her skull, stepped on her Mid-Medulla and killed her.

 

Only flaw to this is Batman seems to be actively tracking the killer, could he not know? Has he developed MPD as a result of the JLA messing with his brain?

 

I think you're on the right track here... but there's nothing that says it couldn't have been the Atom himself that hopped the line from the Batcave to Sue Dibny's Medulla... of course, it would be one helluva coincidence that he would be there right when Alfred was calling...

 

Hmmm. Pieces are falling into place. This definitely bears further review via another reading tonight.

 

except as noted above it wasa cell phone...

UnlessMeltzer totally forgot that or he didnt know Ray cant ride cell phone waves!

[Illiterati-migration]

Atom usually travels along the phone lines in his subatomic form.

 

Who did Sue Dibny receive a call from just before the killer arrives... she got a call from Alfred... FROM THE BATCAVE!

 

Bats picked up the line, shrank down and entered her head thru her ear before she hung up the phone.

 

She thinks she hears something coming from downstairs, in reality she looks to her right because she thinks she hears something ON HER RIGHT SIDE... THE SIDE THAT WAS LISTENING TO THE PHONE!

 

Then he entered her skull, stepped on her Mid-Medulla and killed her.

 

Only flaw to this is Batman seems to be actively tracking the killer, could he not know? Has he developed MPD as a result of the JLA messing with his brain?

 

I think you're on the right track here... but there's nothing that says it couldn't have been the Atom himself that hopped the line from the Batcave to Sue Dibny's Medulla... of course, it would be one helluva coincidence that he would be there right when Alfred was calling...

 

Hmmm. Pieces are falling into place. This definitely bears further review via another reading tonight.

 

except as noted above it wasa cell phone...

UnlessMeltzer totally forgot that or he didnt know Ray cant ride cell phone waves!

 

I thought it was Jean that was on the cell phone?

[Ares]

Atom usually travels along the phone lines in his subatomic form.

 

Who did Sue Dibny receive a call from just before the killer arrives... she got a call from Alfred... FROM THE BATCAVE!

 

Bats picked up the line, shrank down and entered her head thru her ear before she hung up the phone.

 

She thinks she hears something coming from downstairs, in reality she looks to her right because she thinks she hears something ON HER RIGHT SIDE... THE SIDE THAT WAS LISTENING TO THE PHONE!

 

Then he entered her skull, stepped on her Mid-Medulla and killed her.

 

Only flaw to this is Batman seems to be actively tracking the killer, could he not know? Has he developed MPD as a result of the JLA messing with his brain?

 

I think you're on the right track here... but there's nothing that says it couldn't have been the Atom himself that hopped the line from the Batcave to Sue Dibny's Medulla... of course, it would be one helluva coincidence that he would be there right when Alfred was calling...

 

Hmmm. Pieces are falling into place. This definitely bears further review via another reading tonight.

 

except as noted above it wasa cell phone...

UnlessMeltzer totally forgot that or he didnt know Ray cant ride cell phone waves!

 

I thought it was Jean that was on the cell phone?

 

Sue was on a Cordless phone.

And Fact she was thrown onto table indicates to me killer was fullsized !

 

One thing I noticed looking at issue 1

When Ray got call at Jeans Office on his Earset he hopped into the open phone lying on the table! . It had not dialed any destnation. He jumped in aleft. He does not need to travel on an open predialed line. As long at ithad a cord he was fine

[Solar]

Anybody else see issue 1 on the OC tonight?

 

 

um yeah, neither did I...

[Ares]

And in Issue 4 Hal Says Make THEM Pay

[Kevin Boyd]

More on the Atom 2 & 3 story:

 

http://captain.custard.org/league/php/profile.php?id=atom2

 

But Ray would find that the real nemesis was the enemy within -- he discovered that a group within the CIA had engineered the destruction of the Katarthans for the sole purpose of recruiting the Atom to create a squad of micro-spies. An angry Atom shrank the conspirators and delivered them to the real CIA.

 

The CIA "Micro/Squad" disappeared and started hunting Ray for revenge. He was only able to escape them by using inter agency politics -- he agreed to supply Amanda Waller of the Suicide Squad with the location of a spare size control belt in exchange for a new identity. The world believed that Ray Palmer was killed in an explosion at his apartment. Instead he became Professor Don Shuffler at an obscure university and convicted burglar Adam Cary became the third Atom as an operative for the Squad. The switch was a sting operation with Cray's addition to the Suicide Squad designed to bring the Micro/Squad out into the open. Cray's real identity was never released to the public and many believed him to be Palmer. Evidence connecting Waller to the explosion at Palmer's apartment attracted the attention of a number of ex-JLA members. Their investigation almost threatened to expose the Palmer/Cray switch.

 

Suicide Squad member Captain Boomerang pretended to sell Clay to the Micro/Squad, but the sting operation was compromised. Micro/Squad member Blacksnake killed Clay, and then killed the other Micro/Squad members. At the time Ray was undercover as Micro/Squad member Sting. He was so enraged at Blacksnake's murderous crimes that he threw off his disguise and attacked Blacksnake, defeating him by shrinking him to a sub-atomic size. Blacksnake was handed over to the authorities, but was murdered by the Cabal that had funded the Mirco/Squad.

[Darthdiesel]

Anybody else see issue 1 on the OC tonight?

 

 

um yeah, neither did I...

 

"before you read this make sure, I explain the difference between Plastic Man and Elongated Man"

 

"I've got 3 longboxes of new issues to bag and board"

[nearmint]

It's frickin' Ant-Man! He's found a way to cross into the DCU, and he's killing left and right!

[Illiterati-migration]

It's frickin' Ant-Man! He's found a way to cross into the DCU, and he's killing left and right!

 

That explains why Sue was so badly beaten at the time of her murder!

 

Seriously, that's bothering me... why was her mouth bloodied and why her clothes torn and why was she (apparently) thrown onto the table if someone was in her brain blocking the bloodflow to her medulla?

 

 

In other news, I think Kevin's Amanda Waller theory is looking pretty solid (again). The Suicide Squad connections are becoming more and more apparent, the trafficking of super-weapons like Luthor's armor and the Atom's belt (BOTH Luthor AND Atom are demonstrated as having close ties with Waller), and the person orchestrating the murders must have a large amount of money to draw off of... as well as a reason to want to not only hurt the heroes, but also to KILL the villains (Bolt, Captain Boomerang, Dr. Light?).

 

Bolt was set-up, Boomerang was set-up, Dr. Light was set-up, though his apparent assassination fell through.

 

Now, as far as the people actually COMMITING the crimes? I don't know.

[helionaut]

The story really has me guessing. I haven't reread all 6, but I'm going to right before #7. I had thought it might be a good guy going bad, but I didn't see the Atom as the one. Still don't.

 

But I'm flipping through the issues and I'm now pretty sure Jean Loring could be in on it. We don't actually see her attack, but we get the story in her flashback, which could be a fabrication. Her story is that the killer attacked her at the front door hung her from a doorknob, presumably not the front door (the artwork is unclear as to what door she was hung off of and slightly inconsistent as to framed pictures and such), but she managed to dial a phone to call Ray while being blindfolded and gagged. In the flashback panel, we see her holding a cellphone in her hands, so speed dial could do it. #3 ends with 2 pages of the attack on Jean, but we don't see the anyone but her. We see on the next-to-last page in panel 6 a gag being tied around Jean's mouth. But if you look at the hands, the orientation of the thumbs, either the attacker was standing behind her, or she was tying it herself. Plus the hands look small, like a woman's, though maybe that's just sloppy artwork. It's odd that someone would try to kill her by tying the end of the noose to a doorknob. That's something suicides do because there's no one to help them. And how did the blindfold get on her? A strangler wouldn't go to all that trouble, especially since she was conscious and presumably trying to fight back, if he was definitely planning on her dying. A murder mystery convention is that someone who survives a killer's attack turns out to be the killer so maybe that's the deal here.

 

Then there's that page in #6 with Dr. Light sitting in his chair and seeming to remember or decide on something. I think we see the same glint in his eye there that is in Ray's eyes at the end in bed. Can't Dr. Light do holograms or something, so that he's really in bed with Jean but looks like Ray? And hypnotising her with lasers or something? Oh yeah, and she gave birth to Capt. Boomerang's son, too. She likes the bad guys.

 

I dunno, I get the feeling that there are little hints all over these books, but I can't quite fit them together.

[Illiterati-migration]

All good points, but this is particularly interesting...

 

 

Then there's that page in #6 with Dr. Light sitting in his chair and seeming to remember or decide on something. I think we see the same glint in his eye there that is in Ray's eyes at the end in bed. Can't Dr. Light do holograms or something, so that he's really in bed with Jean but looks like Ray?

[Aman619]

All good points, but this is particularly interesting...

 

 

Then there's that page in #6 with Dr. Light sitting in his chair and seeming to remember or decide on something. I think we see the same glint in his eye there that is in Ray's eyes at the end in bed. Can't Dr. Light do holograms or something, so that he's really in bed with Jean but looks like Ray?

 

that DOES sound interesting. I just reread 1-3 and there was that scene where Dr Light sees Deathstroke neing wrestled to the ground and he remembers what happenned to him in the JLA watchtower... I also noticed that Atom is all over issue 1, in lots of scenes helping out and being very moved by Sue death... so it would be a rotten trick to never have tipped us off in some way back then that he was a major suspect. Just ONE glint in aneye, or one cryptic comment would have us all assuming its him now that issue 6 really points the finger at him.

 

I still have no clue... but I appreciated the story MUCH better reading it in one sitting... gee --- monthly pamphlets suck for following a detailed mystery story like this...