Millennium #4

Jan 1988 · DC · 0.75 USD; 1.00 CAD; 0.40 GBP

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“Forth”

★ 1st appearance — Extraño★ 1st appearance — Jet★ 1st appearance — Gloss

About this Issue

Millennium #4 sits at the exact midpoint of DC's first weekly crossover event — the moment the eight-issue series pivots from gathering the Chosen to actively hunting the Manhunters' hidden base. It is the chapter that sets up a geographically unified four-title crossover corridor in the Louisiana bayou, drawing Batman, the Suicide Squad, Captain Atom, the Spectre, and Madame Xanadu into a shared theatre of operations — an unusually tight piece of Copper Age editorial coordination that would inform how DC structured major events for the rest of the decade. As part of the Millennium event as a whole, this issue belongs to the storyline that introduced Extraño (Gregorio de la Vega), DC's first openly gay superhero, and redefined the Manhunters from generic robot villains into a centuries-deep planetary conspiracy. The broader event it anchors also directly led to the cancellation of several ongoing series — including Booster Gold, the Outsiders, and eventually Blue Beetle and Infinity Inc. — making it a structural landmark in DC's Copper Age publishing history.

In "Forth," the fourth issue of Millennium (1988), the Guardians' chosen and Zamoran unite as the heroes fracture to hunt down the Manhunters—Batman probes Mark Shaw at Belle Reve while the Suicide Squad, Spectre, and Captain Atom each pursue a key Manhunter stronghold. With tensions rising and a traitor hidden among them at the Citadel, the search becomes as dangerous from within as it is from the enemy. Written by Steve Englehart and illustrated by Joe Staton, with inks by Ian Gibson, colors by Carl Gafford, and letters by Bob Lappan, the issue’s cover by Joe Staton and Bruce Patterson captures the escalating stakes.

writer Steve Englehart · artist Joe Staton · inker Ian Gibson · colorist Carl Gafford · letterer Bob Lappan · cover Joe Staton, Bruce Patterson

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History

Millennium was conceived as DC's third major line-wide crossover, following Crisis on Infinite Earths and Legends, and was written by Steve Englehart — who had himself co-created the Manhunters in Justice League of America #140 back in 1977, giving him unique authorial ownership of the mythology he was now exploding across the entire DC line. Art was divided between Joe Staton on layouts and Ian Gibson on finishes, with Andy Helfer editing the series and coordinating the sprawling web of tie-in writers from across DC's offices while Englehart worked remotely from California — a logistical challenge that one contemporary fan account described as having driven Helfer to the edge of professional burnout. Englehart deliberately structured the event so that the most dramatic action occurred in the tie-in issues rather than the main series, making issue #4 — and the mini-crossover it launches — particularly important for readers who want to understand how the whole machinery was meant to work. Mark Waid also received a writing credit on this issue, credited alongside Englehart.

Trivia · 8 facts

Cover date: January 1988; on-sale date: approximately October 6, 1987 (per League of Comic Geeks reading-order data); part of an eight-issue weekly miniseries published across January–February 1988.
Written by Steve Englehart (with Mark Waid also credited); layouts by Joe Staton; finishes by Ian Gibson; colors by Carl Gafford; letters by Bob Lappan; edited by Andy Helfer.
Story titled 'Forth' — the fourth installment of the Millennium weekly event, which was DC's third company-wide crossover after Crisis on Infinite Earths and Legends.
This issue is the narrative pivot that launches a four-title Louisiana bayou crossover running through Suicide Squad #9, Captain Atom #11, Detective Comics #582, and The Spectre #10, all set around the same Manhunter base.
Key story beats include: all eight surviving Chosen have now arrived at the Green Lantern Citadel; Batman deduces a connection between Mark Shaw (the Manhunter) and Belle Reve Prison in the Louisiana bayou; Firestorm is revealed to have joined the Manhunters' cause; Madame Xanadu is attacked by a Manhunter, drawing the Spectre into the conflict.
Booster Gold and Firestorm's defections to the Manhunters, referenced in this issue, occurred in Booster Gold #24 and Firestorm the Nuclear Man #67 respectively — illustrating Englehart's design of parceling key plot events out to tie-in titles.
The Millennium event as a whole introduced DC's first openly gay superhero, Extraño (Gregorio de la Vega), along with Jet (Celia Windward), Gloss (Xiang Po), and RAM (Takeo Yakata) — the core members of the New Guardians team that spun off into its own 12-issue series after the event.
This issue was reprinted in the Millennium trade paperback (ISBN 978-1401220655), collected in 2008 — the first and, to date, only collection of the eight-issue core series.