Infinite Crisis Speculation, Post #3

Welcome to another edition of Infinite Crisis Speculation Friday!

To recap, in the first issue I suggested that Power Girl might be a chronal anomaly, who doesn't belong in the DC universe, and that the Psycho-Pirate was using that fact to bring back the Multiverse. In the second issue, I proposed that perhaps the Anti-Monitor is pulling the Psycho-Pirate's strings, and I suggested that maybe the Pirate is playing a large role in the Villains United miniseries. My thought was that perhaps the Pirate was also the mysterious Mockingbird.

But now, I have a different idea.

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Recommendation: Museum Exhibit on September 11

One of the things that Nomi and I did this past Sunday (September 11) was visit the National Heritage Museum in Lexington, Massachusetts. (If you grew up in the area, you might know it under a slightly different name, the Museum of Our National Heritage.) I had spotted an advertisement that they were running an exhibit dedicated to September 11, and it looked familiar, so we drove over to check it out.

It turns out it was familiar. Until January 1, the Museum is hosting the traveling exhibit September 11: Bearing Witness to History that was created by the Smithsonian Institution. The exhibit was familiar because Nomi and I actually saw it back in October 2002, at the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC.

It's a powerful, worthwhile exhibit. Back in 2002, I went to a lot of the September 11 exhibits that the New-York Historical Society set up, but this Smithsonian exhibit was the one I most wanted to see. The reason is that it's an artifact exhibit. Instead of just having photographs or artwork, this exhibit has actual items from that tragic day.

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This Day in History, 1920: Bombing of the JP Morgan Building

A little-remembered fact in American history...today is the eighty-fifth anniversary of the bombing of the JP Morgan building at 23 Wall Street in New York City.

Quoted from Museum of American Financial History:

"Just before noon on Wednesday, September 16, 1920, a horse-drawn wagon covered with a canvas tarpaulin pulled to a stop on the north side of Wall Street across from the House of Morgan. The driver abandoned the wagon and blended in with the lunchtime crowd before the dynamite-packed wagon exploded. Debris ricocheted through the canyons of the Financial District and shattered windows as far as half a mile away. The bombing was likely an attempt to steal the $900 million worth of gold ingots being transferred that day. If that was the intent, however, the heist was unsuccessful, as no gold was stolen.

"The attack killed 38 people and injured more than 300. Junius Morgan, grandson of company founder J. Pierpont Morgan, suffered only minor injuries to his hand. J.P. "Jack" Morgan, Jr., then president of the bank, was traveling in Scotland at the time of the attack. When he returned, he found his building pock-marked from the explosion. These marks can still be seen on the facade of the Morgan building today.

"Both the House of Morgan and the New York Stock Exchange, located across the street, closed that day but reopened for business the following day. When trading resumed, stock prices moved upward. At the time of the attack, more than 3 million people worked in the factories, warehouses, department stores, specialty shops, and skyscrapers on Wall Street, where one-third of New York City's workforce was employed in white collar jobs. Bolshevik groups and anarchists were accused of the bombing of the Morgan Bank, but no one was ever brought to trial."

You can find pictures of the pockmarked wall and a more detailed description of the events of the day at Wall Street: Beyond the Wall: Terrorism.

Novel Update

The manuscript has been mailed to my agent.