SECRET FILES & ORIGINS: GUIDE TO THE DC UNIVERSE 2000

The Secret Files & Origins series was a direct descendant of both Secret Origins series ... just more expensive and far less likely to have any truly relevant data in them.

Secret Files & Origins: Guide to the DC Universe 2000 #1

"Robots in the DCU"
Script by Scott Beatty
Art by Guy Vasquez and Claude St. Auben
Cover by Darrick Robertson and John Dell

SYNOPSIS: In "Robots in the DCU", Oracle's entry in to the JLA mission archives details the Millenium attack by Brainiac 13, in which many appliances, machines, robots and androids on Earth went crazy and started attacking everything in site. Luckily, Superman and the Metal Men (who were unaffected by Brainiac's worldwide "upgrade" were able to stop the havoc. The Metal Man Veridium (formerly known as Dr. Will "Doc" Magnus") checked out all the robotic and armored metahumans. Only one problem occurred: Cliff Steele, also known as Robotman, fell victim not to Brainiac-13 but Y2K, as a previously unknown safeguard was triggered and his defensive systems turned offensive. Again, the Metal Men (as Alloy) was able to stop him fairly earily, and Steel and the Atom helped Veridium check out Cliff's body, and the Red Tornado "donated" the cybernetic "serum" to repair Cliff's systems.

COMMENTS: Most of the Secret Files & Origins series are pretty forgettable. There has been the odd exception (JLA #1, JSA #1 & 2, Silver Age #1, etc.) but since most comic shops don't even bother to stock many of copies of any of them, most folks don't even know about them. This particular issue isn't any exception to the rule, but there are a few bright spots in it that make it memorable. The "Standard Operating Procedure" story was at least informative, and "Robots in the DCU" brought Cliff Steele back into the fray, even though it seems to be anachronistic when you look at the previous Doom Patrol series by Morrison and Pollack. Cliff was wearing his old jacket and his robot body was the one originally made by the Chief, not the one he devised with the help of Kate Godwin. Given that the situation was that Cliff's own Y2K bug had set his body off on a path of destruction, the timing makes it difficult to place this story anywhere in the Doom Patrol canon, much like the Totems story is, again with Cliff having very odd additions to his body that were never seen in any of the regular DP series.

In any case, it was a fun little story and it was great to see the Metal Men (even with Veridium) in action again. The story does erroneously show Gold being with the team in the last panel, even though the robot was very regrettably destroyed in the last Metal Men mini-series.