Who Was Who Is Who #18

So for want of anything better to write about on a Monday, I'm going to go through all my copies of Who's Who and see if I can predict who will make it over to the new DCU by the end of 2012, who might make it and who hasn't got a Grim Ghost's chance.

GORILLA CITY - probably going to appear (if it hasn't already) but as it's a place I'm not counting it.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #177

Because nothing lets you bond with a new hero like a little old-fashioned racism

Gratuitous Butt Shot Of The Week

From Green Lantern: New Guardians #8, Tyler Kirkham channels his inner Ed Benes.

It's Always Sad When Friends Break Up

Want to find out what's happening in the wonderful world of DC Comics? Then your best bet is to check out the dedicated websites as advertised in the back of recent issues of various titles.

You can check out DCComics.com, VertigoComics.com or MADMagazine.com all of which are mentioned in the ad on the left there.

As it says, there are social media features including "comments powered by Facebook" as well as real-time Twitter feeds. You lucky people can "follow, like, see trending topics and join the conversation" all over the place because one of the things they're keen to push is how interactive and social the sites are.

And yet . . . there's no mention of DC's Google+ page on there.

Not even a year ago, DC Comics were "thrilled to announce" that they were among the earliest of companies to join Google+ and sure, they do update it regularly but for some reason the All Access ad doesn't mention it.

With their site's comments being powered by Facebook and there being a somewhat acrimonious rivalry between Google and Facebook, have DC decided to play safe and only mention the big boys? Or is Ian Sattler simply not aware of their Google+ page?

Colouring Correction

Confused by colouring cock-ups? Left floundering by finishing foul-ups? Never fear, Crisis on Earth-Prime is here.

Last week's The Shadow #1 featured the same character wearing two different coloured suits and hair pieces in two consecutive panels:

Thanks to the wizards at CoEP, you can prevent any more blue-induced bafflement by simply printing this panel:

and then cutting it out and pasting it over the original.

Remember to get an adult to help you with the scissors and don't eat the glue.

Two Men Walk Into The LA Times Festival Of Books...

...and set up a panel talking about Before Watchmen and one of them, Jim Lee, says

"I guarantee you that every one of these creators that is working on these books will outdo or match the original,"

to which the only sensible response can be:

Who Was Who Is Who #17

So for want of anything better to write about on a Monday, I'm going to go through all my copies of Who's Who and see if I can predict who will make it over to the new DCU by the end of 2012, who might make it and who hasn't got a Golden Gladiator's chance.

GARN DAANUTH - the bad brother of Arion who last turned up (I think) in JSA Classified as one of Power Girl's visions just before Infinite Crisis. Can't see him turning up any time soon.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #176

Speak for yourself, man.

Earth-2 Artwork

Over at Newsarama, there's a short clip of Dan Didio being interview at C2E2 where he lets the camera look at a page of art from Earth-2 showing Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman battling against the parademons we've already seen on the released cover.

As the page was three panels, I grabbed some screen shots (click for bigger versions):

As far as I could make out, the captions read

SO MANY SOUNDS. CRIES. THE DYING. MY CITY DYING. NOT DEAD.

and

TRYING TO STAY SHARP TODAY... SEEMS LIKE THE HARDEST THING I'VE EVER HAD TO DO.

I originally thought "stay sharp" was something like "stop" or "save Mary" but wasn't convinced of that. gra2355 points out in the comments that it's actually "stay sharp" so cheers for that.

Dear DC, Take A Letter

Dear DC

I'm really pleased that your New 52 initiative has, by and large, been a success. Sure there were the teething problems in the early days but no-one could deny that it got the industry talking, sales have been good and many titles and/or characters have received a shot in the arm. It's had (and still has) it's detractors but again, on the whole, I think you can pat yourselves on the back.

One thing's been bugging me since the relaunch/reboot, though, and it's this:

I'm Sure They're Out There

From the always excellent Our Valued Customers

I, for one, couldn't give a monkey's but then I'm a DC whore fan rather than Marvel so that's understandable. What about you lovely people?

It's The Future, I Tell You

Man, 2012 must have seemed sooooo far away back in 1977 when 2000AD #16 hit the streets.

Still, it'll be nice one they outlaw electrical storms, I suppose.

Who Was Who Is Who #16

So for want of anything better to write about on a Monday, I'm going to go through all my copies of Who's Who and see if I can predict who will make it over to the new DCU by the end of 2012, who might make it and who hasn't got a Galactic Golem's chance.

THE FLASH - well here we have one who's definitely already in place: the Barry Allen Flash. But we also have one who I'm betting we'll definitely see with the launch of Earth-2: the Jay Garrick Flash. Can't wait to see the guy with the tin hat again.

THE FLORONIC MAN - Jason Woodrue went through a few transformations before his stint in Swamp Thing turned him into something more than a simple villain. Will we see him again? It's possible he might return to Swamp Thing, but I don't think it'll happen before the end of the year.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #175

Yeah, you can joke, but here's why you don't want Ray Palmer ticked off at you.

Earth 2 #3

From the solicitation:

The all-new origin of ALAN SCOTT GREEN LANTERN – unlike any GL origin that's come before!
The debut of the all-new HAWKGIRL!
And Jay Garrick, THE FLASH, meets his first Super Hero!

Hawkgirl! Yay!

Don't Call Me Cassandra

Over the last weekend or so, I've had my head buried in copies of Who's Who, frantically finishing writing up my Who Was Who Is Who posts. I've completed all of them up to #52 (due to be posted Christmas Eve would you believe?!) so all my predictions are now locked in place - you'll just have to trust me that I won't change any between now and then!

But hey, where's the fun in that? If I did that then I wouldn't be able to point at this news article that I read yesterday which clearly illustrates what a terrible prophet I am.

It concerns the news about a new DC series called National Comics which will be a series of one shots that

"will serve as a base to explore the publisher's New 52 universe"

which sounds like a good idea to me and I'll probably pick it up.

Trouble is, on Sunday I wrote in Who Was Who Is Who #38 (to be posted 17th September)

"ROSE AND THE THORN - I don't think either of the Earth-1 or Earth-2 versions featured in Who's Who will be making an appearance any time soon."

and what do I read in the press release about National Comics just a couple of days later?

"tales of characters and concepts including Eternity, Rose and Thorn, Madame X and the Outsider team-member Looker"

Rose and Thorn?!

Damn it, I suck at this.

You'll have to wait and see what I wrote about Looker, as well.

When Is An Abbreviation Not An Abbreviation?

When it takes longer to say the abbreviation rather than the word being abbreviated.

Prime example from last week's Justice League International #8:

Seriously - say Booster's dialogue out loud and count the syllables as you do.

"B.W." = four syllables; "Batwing" = two.

It may take less space on the page to write, but it takes longer to say it. And to compound matters, Booster does it twice in the same issue.

It's a little thing, but it's annoying.

Who Was Who Is Who #15

So for want of anything better to write about on a Monday, I'm going to go through all my copies of Who's Who and see if I can predict who will make it over to the new DCU by the end of 2012, who might make it and who hasn't got a Firebug's chance.

THE FATAL FIVE - long time enemies of the Legion, as far as I know there are no plans to have them appear any time soon. However, as I've said before, I'm not a Legion reader so Dave Sopko, the official COEP Legion go to guy, says "I do not think we shall see the team as a whole this year, but there is definitely an open end with the Emerald Eye and Shrinking Violet, so I think that it will be see again by years end."

Who's Like A Cocktail? #174

Man, you do not want the August General in Iron pissed off at you

Seriously, DC?

Honestly, I read this headline:

DC Debuting New James Robinson-Written HE-MAN Comic in July

and thought "What a great April Fool, DC!"

I then remembered that was last week and this is actually legitimate. James Robinson is writing a He Man comic for DC.

Full (incredible) story here.

Worlds' Finest #3 Cover

DC has released the cover of Worlds' Finest #3 and it's a corker:

I'm so hoping this series turns out to be good!

Worlds' Finest #1 Variant Cover

In just a few weeks' time we get issue #1 of Worlds' Finest which brings back Power Girl to the DCU, teaming her with Huntress as they try to get back to Earth-2, thus reintroducing the multiverse to the mainstream DCU as well.

We've already seen the George Perez cover:

But now we get to see the Kevin Maguire variant courtesy of IGN:

Sometimes They Come Back

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Ghost returns to the pages of Dark Horse Presents fairly soon, initially for a three-issue run in that book.

Now there's a bit more good news for us Ghost fans: there's going to be a mini-series to follow as well according to Newsarama.

Here's hoping it'll be good enough to get another on-going series sometime in the future.

Perusing Previews - April 2012

Do you know, I'm honestly tempted by this T-shirt.

Who Was Who Is Who #14

So for want of anything better to write about on a Monday, I'm going to go through all my copies of Who's Who and see if I can predict who will make it over to the new DCU by the end of 2012, who might make it and who hasn't got an Enforcer's chance.

EASY COMPANY - who'd have thought one of the new titles from DC would be a war book? Admittedly, Men of War didn't make the first cull and will be cancelled, but kudos for trying. Because of that, Easy Company goes in the already in place column, even though the book's for the chop.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #173