Notes on Slow Burn:

Part One:

Gotham: Bruce Wayne becomes Batman when his parents are gunned down after taking Bruce to see Zorro

Newspapers drifting in the wind - from the Flash's wake

Bruce saw red - he saw one of the Flashes

Coast City Abin Sur does not die and Hal Jordan does not become Green Lantern

Suitable replacements - schoolteacher is Guy Gardner, architect is John Stewart and test pilot is Hal Jordan

"with a flash of insight" - just a hint that this is the Flash

"something red" - ditto

Denver Dr. Erdel accidentally brought J'onn J'onzz to Earth.

Star City Oliver Queen became the Green Arrow when he was stranded on a desert island as the result of a shipwreck

Paradise Island Queen Hippolyta holds a contest to send an ambassador to man's world.

Smallville Kal El from Krypton is found by the Kents when his rocket crashes into Earth. Keystone City

"watching a small baby . . . play with a stuffed green ball" - Krypton symbolism

Jay - Jay Garrick (his hat has wings like Mercury)

Barry - Barry Allen

Iris - Barry's fiancée
Part Two:

Lois Luthor - Lex Luthor has had a romantic interest in Lois Lane in current continuity. With no Clark Kent, Lois married Lex.

Jay Garrick and Joan Garrick - tried to keep them pretty close to continuity

Richard Grayson - the first Robin, adopted by Bruce Wayne when his parents, trapeze artists, are killed. The idea was that Barry adopted Kal El and Jay adopted Richard when they didn't manage to stop his parents' deaths.

Barry Allen - his origins are the same, but I played with his costume a little bit. He is supposed to have a twin brother, but I ignored that completely because it would seem contrived if that was in there, I think.

Raymond Palmer - He is currently a professor and the Atom

Wally West - origin same as continuity

Flash Fact - I think under Mark Waid, Wally caused things to explode when he traveled through them.

Max Mercury - the current continuity character was created by Mark Waid. We find out later that the older character Quicksilver was one of Max's old aliases.

Don and Dawn the Tornado Twins - these are originally Barry and Iris Allen's children from the future. Obviously, I couldn't introduce them this way, but I left their parentage a mystery - we just assume they're Max's kids.

Kobra - a charismatic, psychotic cult leader who has fought the JSA and JLA numerous times.

R'as Al Ghul - Batman's ultimate nemesis. He knows Batman's identity and wanted his daughter to marry him. He's also interested in taking over the world so that nature can overrun technology once again. It made sense for him to have a beef with Kobra.

Zoom - Professor Zoom was a DC character who came from the future. He could match Barry's speed step by step. He killed Barry's wife Iris by (I believe) vibrating a finger into her brain and killing her. He also tried to kill Barry's next fiancée much later, and Barry killed Zoom. Barry was arrested (as the Flash) and was on trial for murder.

Vandal Savage - yet another villain who threatens everyone. I actually merged him with Ivo and T.O. Morrow, who created Amazo, an android that could match superpowers.

The Chambers - Johnny and Libby Chambers did exist. Libby is actually the older hero Liberty Belle. Johnny Chambers found an Egyptian secret formula that he used to get his speed, and it was inherited by Jesse. Johnny was CEO for a company called (I believe) Quickstart, Inc., a role that was taken over by Jesse when Johnny died recently. They both went as the pseudonyms "Quick" as well.

Barry Junior is of course Kal El.

Ultra Humanite - another global villain, especially in recent issues of JSA

The commercial - Metamorpho was the alterego of Rex Mason, an archaeologist who unleashed a power that allowed him to transform his body into different chemical compounds.

Wally eating is a theme because of a long-running storyline that he had to eat so much food because his body was burning it so fast.

Manchester, Alabama - the real home of Max Mercury in DC continuity

When Wally is eating the pizza and starts to puke, he says "BLAGROODD". Just a little hint that Grodd did this.
Part 3:

Waymore, Nebraska - the original site of Elongated Man

He was a private investigator and always elongated his nose in the old JLI

Plastic Man - Eel O'Brien has recently been found to be able to change color, along with his shape. He wears a horrible red outfit with fishnet over his chest.

Arkham - the asylum in Gotham where all of Batman's villains reside in current continuity

Clayface - this doesn't reference an actual activity, more than just his ability to resemble people.

Gingo was the bean that Ralph ingests to keep his stretching abilities. Nothing has been said (I believe) of long-term effects - I just thought it could happen.

Library Linda Park is Wally West's girlfriend and now wife in current continuity.

Firestorm was Ronnie Raymond and Professor Stein in one body. Ronnie had the body, and Stein would give him advice all the time. This is just one incarnation of Firestorm, but the one I liked the best.

Blue Beetle is Ted Kord, who did retire in continuity but now is with the Birds of Prey part-time.

Jack O'Lantern - Global Guardian hero. I was looking for flame-related heroes to drop hints about J'onn J'onzz being involved (because fire is his only weakness).

Fire - Justice League International hero and Brazilian supermodel

Sentinel - original Green Lantern, Alan Scott wills the green flame to do whatever he wants.

Vic is Vic Stone, also known as the Cyborg. Wally West was on the Titans with him.

Gar is Garfield Logan, aka Beast Boy or Changeling. Wally also knew him from Titans.

The idea was that Brainiac and J'onn were psychically forcing people to quit.

"you always look on the dark side of things" - just a hint about Darkseid

Barry and twins When Barry calls for help - he calls Abin Sur.

When the Earth changes, it's supposed to resemble Apokolips, since that's what J'onn would know.

Training Arena in Keystone City James Jesse - original Flash villain the Trickster

Gotham The cave is the original Batcave, one that Bruce found as a child when he was running after a rabbit. He fell down the hole, much like Dick did.

Bruce Wayne joined the FBI for a short while in current continuity.

Zsasz - vicious Batman villain who cuts a hashmark into his skin for every murder victim.

Barry and twins "pair of demons" - parademons, Apokolips's resident hellbringer.

Gotham These are Darkseid's Omega Beams that arc into the cave and strike Jay.

Part 4:

Antarctic stronghold - this is Superman's Fortress of Solitude in current continuity. Barry created it from items they found in the rocket when they found Kal El

The robot is Kelex from current continuity - Superman's Kryptonian robot. However, since it makes snapping sounds, I called it Snapper. This references the original unofficial member of the JLA, Snapper Carr. He was called that because he was always snapping his fingers.

Museum Black diamonds - Eclipso used them in a huge DC crossover and is appearing in the current issues of JSA

Fiddler - the Fiddler was one of three villains that kept Jay Garrick's town of Keystone City from vibrating out of sync with the rest of the world until Barry discovered them.

Pied Piper - Harley Rathaway is a current friend of Wally West, but that was only after he was one of Barry's enemies, using his flute.

Captain Cold and Heat Wave - These two teamed up in original continuity, but I thought it would make more sense that they turned on each other.

Johnny Sorrow - if you see his face when he takes off his mask, you're dead. By having the mask, it's implied that he's been dispatched completely.

Jor El sent his only son, Kal El to Earth from Krypton to save him from Krypton's imminent explosion. I don't think the current continuity Jor El knew that his son would have powers, but I decided to take from the Superman movie, instead, because Marlon Brando is that damn cool.

The large BOOM is a boom tube that the New Gods used to move from place to place. It makes sense that Darkseid would travel that way.

Part 5:

Brainiac - in current continuity, it's really convoluted. I took some basic elements - his name was Milton Fine, and he was a mentalist at a circus. Colu is the planet that Brainiac 5 from the Legion of Superheroes in the 30th century is from, so I used that element, too. Brainiac can attack telekinetically and can take psychic control of people.

Gorilla Grodd - Grodd is one of a culture of advanced, hyper-intelligent apes that live in a hidden section of the world. He is the only one with extensive psychic ability.

Darkseid - Darkseid is the ruler of Apokolips. His Omega Beams always hit their mark, and they do different things, depending on what he wants them to do. He is extremely cunning and very strong and always says things like "dog of Krypton" and "Kryptonian whelp".

H'r'm'r - This is J'onn J'onzz. H'ronmeer is the Martian god of death, so this was a little tribute to that.

Wally says "Titano the wonder god from the planet Exor?" Titano is a giant ape that Superman fought. Exor is the planet that the Wonder Twins, Zan and Jayna, from Superfriends, came from.

Abin Sur uses his ring to create anything he wants. Its only weakness is yellow. Darkseid's Omega Beams would normally break through the bubble, but I was assuming that Abin's willpower would beat Darkseid's in this situation.

Diana is Wonder Woman - Hippolyta decided at this point to send her to be an Ambassador. Her golden lasso compels people to tell the truth, but it can also create peace.

J'onn J'onzz - the Martian Manhunter adopted a beetle-browed look, but his original form is something different. I decided to use the humanoid form as his permanent form, like the classic Martian Manhunter pre-Crisis.

Desaad - Darkseid's minion who prides himself on torture and death.

Abin Sur's ring can tell truth.

The Phantom Zone Projector - The Phantom Zone exists in current continuity just like I wrote about it.

Despero - another villain who attacked the JLA.

The hospital - epilogue I Dinah Lance is the Black Canary who has a supersonic "Canary Cry". Hence the reference to a sore throat.

Paul Kirk was the Manhunter - not a villain, but I decided J'onn had to get his name somewhere.

Ray Palmer can shrink at will using the white dwarf star fragment he found.

The Justice League is comprised of Superman (BJ), Wonder Woman (Diana), Martian Manhunter (J'onn), Green Lantern (Abin), the Atom (Ray), Flash (Wally West) and Batman (Dick Grayson).

The tower on the moon - this is the current JLA's headquarters, and the names are all people from continuity:

Kord - Ted Kord, the Blue Beetle

Irons - John Henry Irons, formerly Steel

Holt - Michael Holt, the genius who is the new Mr. Terrific in the JSA.

Apokolips - epilogue II

Since Darkseid is gone, Orion is Darkseid's son. This version is taken from Kingdom Come, where Orion hasn't been able to affect any change. I did give Orion Omega Beam eyes, though. Also, a little Orwellian reference thrown in.

Jay and Barry are actually slaves on Apokolips, but everyone thinks they're dead. I know it's a little bit of a downer, but I thought this leaves the door open for them to return.