Rocket Red #4
44 years ago - Dmitri Pushkin is born in Vyatskoye, Russia.
26 years ago - 18-year-old Dmitri Pushkin joins the Russian Army.
22 years ago - 22-year-old Dmitri Pushkin is married to his wife Belina.
20 years ago - 24-year-old Dmitri Pushkin's daughter Tascha is born.
19 years ago - 25-year-old Dmitri Pushkin's son Mischa is born.
17 years ago - 27-year-old Dmitri Pushkin is an early candidate for the newly commissioned Rocket Red Brigade.
14 years ago - 30-year-old Dmitri Pushkin & the Rocket Red Brigade are placed in support of the government-sanctioned organization The People's Heroes.
12 years ago - 32-year-old Dmitri Pushkin is sent to America to arrest Valentina Vostok as a Russian deserter, until Niles Caulder is able to declare her legally dead. Dmitri & The People's Heroes are unable to stop Ben Turner from assassinating a Russian Pakhan for the League of Assassins.
8 years ago - 36-year-old Dmitri Pushkin & the Rocket Red Brigade support The People's Heroes as they attempt to stop Ivan Illyich Gort from defecting. He destroys many of the armor suits.
5 years ago - 39-year-old Dmitri Pushkin volunteers to serve as the Russian representative in the Global Guardians. He deliberately uses a first-gen Rocket Red mech suit.
4 years ago - 40-year-old Dmitri Pushkin battles Scott Sawyer. He is badly injured, and his suit is destroyed. Leonid Kovar becomes the new Russian representative.
3 years ago - 41-year-old Dmitri Pushkin joins several former members of The People's Heroes to stop mad scientist Alexi Nicolai from creating a nuclear apocalypse.
I don't actually think of Rocket Red as a particularly obscure DC character. Maybe that's just me being very close to the material, but in my head, this is one of the really big parts of the world of DC. Not Justice League or Teen Titans big, but big nonetheless. There have actually been a few different Rocket Reds that we've gotten names for, but with very little exception, Dmitri is the one that counts. He's a part of a beloved era of Justice League history, and even if we're not using him there we still want to make sure we create a space where he gets to do his thing.
Dmitri Pushkin's Comic HistoryTechnically speaking, Dmitri appeared for the first time in Green Lantern Corp #209 from 87, because that's when ALL the Rocket Reds first appeared. They also show up in Justice League #3 and we see the name Dimitri (not Dmitri) for the first time. The League becomes Justice League International in issue #7, and they are joined by Rocket Red #7, Vladimir Mikoyan, but he's only on the League for three issues before he's revealed to be a Manhunter in issue #9. in the same issue, one of the other Rocket Reds makes a little joke while talking to Blue Beetle.
Two issues later, Black Canary is escorting a new Rocket Red into their embassy. He makes several more jokes, reminds Dinah that she kicked him in the face back in issue #3, and reveals his big friendly bearded face with his missing tooth and tells her that his wife likes the gap. This is our first actual introduction to Dmitri, and he immediately fell in with the Giffen/DeMatteis era of the Justice League, his big loveable personality a great fit with the antics of this cast of characters being written with a focus on their personalities and relationships. He's also a great example of their ability to reach into the more obscure parts of the world of DC to find new characters to highlight. Dmitri eventually sacrificed himself in 2005's OMAC Project to save his teammates, because of DC's mid 2000s kill-everything-fun agenda. |
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Our Dmitri Pushkin StoryRocket Red has been a part of our project from it's inception. He was a classic part of the evolution of the Justice League as well as a fun character in his own right. We are continuing to build out the international teams all operating in the world of our timeline, and Dmitri presents us with a really interesting opportunity. We know that Russia has the Rocket Reds, a brigade of armored soldiers that serve as their superhero response unit, and that rather than having any one member of the Brigade serve on the original People's Heroes, the entire brigade will simply operate in support of the team. It gives the whole thing a unique shape and scope... but it also frees up Dmitri to have his own arc.
Dmitri is unique among our brigade specifically because he's the Rocket Red to join the Global Guardians. He's not there long, because of the shakeup in the Guardians when Warmaker One goes nuts, but it establishes him as a particular Rocket Red with his own story. From there, when several surviving members of the People's Heroes start to work together again, Dmitri actually joins them as an equal. It's a neat way to evolve the Rocket Reds as a whole, and it means we get to enjoy this fun character. |