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In September 1991, DC wrapped up Armageddon 2001 with issue #2, revealing the identity of the Monarch.

This is the latest in my continuing series looking back at the comic books of 1991.  In this post, I’ll look at the comics I bought in August 1991, and at some of the other comic books that were available.  I’m using the newsstand option at Mike’s Amazing World of Comics as my reference guide for this.  When I remember, I’ll share details about how and where I bought comics at the time.

Spoilers for a 21 year old story ahead:

“Armageddon 2001″ #2  is sort of an infamous issue, in that reportedly the original plan was for Captain Atom to be the Monarch. But when that leaked, the story was changed, to make Hawk of Hawk and Dove into the Monarch, despite that not making a lot of sense as I recall.

From iFanboy:

In 1991, Captain Atom’s solo series was canceled. It had a run of 57 issues, most of which were very good. That summer, Armageddon 2001, a giant company-wide event, began. The entire event hinged on the fact that a hero would turn evil and needed to be put down before he or she could take on the name Monarch. According to urban legend, Captain Atom was slated to be that villain by the editorial staff at DC. His series had just ended and he had almost unlimited power. It made sense. But word had leaked out into the fan community. Everyone knew that Atom was going to be the big reveal in the final issue. So, to keep things interesting, DC editors threw logic and plot progression out the window and chose a different hero to become Monarch.

I heard this rumor back at the time as well, so obviously it had penetrated pretty far into the fan consciousness and/or comic store gossip.

In other comics this month, I picked up Captain America #394 and Adventures of Captain America #3.

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