Armageddon 2001 #1

May 1991 · DC · 2.00 USD; 2.50 CAD; 0.80 GBP

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“Darktime”

★ 1st appearance — Waverider

About this Issue

Armageddon 2001 #1 is the anchor of DC's summer 1991 crossover event and serves as the debut vehicle for two new characters — Waverider (Matthew Ryder) and the armored tyrant Monarch — whose introductions set the narrative machinery of an entire line-wide annual initiative in motion. The issue established a structural template that DC would refine for years: a two-issue bookend miniseries framing 'What If?'-style futures across roughly two dozen tie-in annuals, each examining how a familiar hero might fall into tyranny. Waverider himself proved durable enough to carry forward into the Superman titles and then into Dan Jurgens's 1994 event Zero Hour: Crisis in Time!, giving this debut genuine downstream weight in early-'90s DC continuity. The event is also remembered as a cautionary tale in comics production history — the last-minute swap of Monarch's identity, driven by a spoiler leak, became one of the most-discussed editorial stumbles of the Copper Age.

writer Archie Goodwin · artist Dan Jurgens · inker Dick Giordano · colorist Anthony Tollin · letterer Albert De Guzman · cover Dan Jurgens, Terry Austin

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (VF) $2

CGC 9.8 · 42 in census $26*

CGC 9.6 · 22 in census $20

CGC 9.4 · 8 in census $20*

CGC 9.2 · 5 in census $20*

CGC 9.0 · 7 in census $20*

CGC 8.5 · 3 in census $20*

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CGC 8.0 · 2 in census $20*

CGC 7.5 none in existence

CGC 7.0 none in existence

CGC 6.5 none in existence

CGC 6.0 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 5.5 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 5.0 none in existence

CGC 4.5 · 1 in census $20*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

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History

The creative team of writer Archie Goodwin, editor/co-writer Denny O'Neil, and penciller Dan Jurgens developed the event around a central whodunit — which present-day DC hero would eventually murder his colleagues and seize world power as Monarch? From the outset, Goodwin and O'Neil had designed Captain Atom as the answer to that mystery, and the book's tie-ins were written with that resolution in mind. During the crossover's publication run, however, *Comics Buyers Guide* (and, according to Dan Jurgens, a pay-per-call industry tip line) exposed the planned identity, prompting DC to rewrite and redraw the climax of issue #2 at the last minute, substituting Hank Hall (Hawk) for Captain Atom — a change that directly contradicted clues already printed in the Hawk and Dove Annual tie-in and necessitated the cancellation of the *Hawk and Dove* ongoing series. The issue went on sale March 14, 1991, with a May 1991 cover date, and sold well enough to generate both a second and a third printing.

Trivia · 9 facts

First appearance and origin of Waverider (Matthew Ryder), the time-traveling scientist-turned-living temporal energy, created by Archie Goodwin and Dan Jurgens.
First appearance of Monarch, the armored future dictator whose true identity drives the event's central mystery; ultimately and controversially revealed to be Hank Hall (Hawk) in issue #2.
Written by Archie Goodwin, pencilled by Dan Jurgens, inked by Dick Giordano, colored by Anthony Tollin, lettered by Albert DeGuzman, and edited by Denny O'Neil (Dennis O'Neil); cover pencils by Dan Jurgens, cover inks by Terry Austin.
On-sale date: March 14, 1991; cover date: May 1991. Story title: 'Dark Time.' The indicia reads simply 'Armageddon 2001' with no issue number, though '#1' appears on the cover.
The issue launched a crossover that ran through approximately 23 tie-in annuals from May through October 1991, each presenting a 'possible future' for a different DC hero — a format compared at the time to Marvel's *What If?* anthology.
The story continues directly into Superman Annual (vol. 2) #3 and chains through annuals for Batman, Flash, Justice League America, New Titans, Hawkworld, Detective Comics, and others before concluding in Armageddon 2001 #2.
Issue #1 received at least two additional printings (a second and a third), with the third printing distinguished by a silver logo and the Roman numeral 'III' on the cover.
Waverider went on to appear in the Superman titles post-event and played a significant role in Dan Jurgens's 1994 DC crossover Zero Hour: Crisis in Time!, while the Monarch/Hawk plot was later retconned in JSA and Battle for Blüdhaven to restore a version closer to the original Captain Atom plan.
The event's core concept — a fallen hero from the future prompting a time-traveler to investigate the present — was loosely adapted as the title and partial inspiration for the five-part 'Armageddon' crossover in Season 8 of the Arrowverse series The Flash.