More Earth-2 Info

James Robinson finally gets to talk about Earth-2 in a little (emphasis on little, there) detail over at Newsarama a day or two back.

From the interview, we get confirmation that this Earth-2 is, not surprisingly, a brand new version of the concept. After all, DC aren't going to reboot / relaunch their main universe and then allow an old version to keep on running in the background, are they? As much as some of us might have wanted / expected that very thing to happen just because they're using the term "Earth-2".

Anyhow, Robinson is asked fairly early on about what sort of world we can expect, the interviewer saying that based on the previews we've had - where Batman's willing to kill, Wonder Woman's the last Amazon, Superman's mourning Lois Lane's death and ready to kill - it seems Earth-2's going to be darker than expected. He replies:

"It isn't darker. It's just taken a different turn based on key events unfolding differently than on [the main DCU Earth]. And as the series progresses, you're going to see that, while it isn't a completely different world that's so alien to us that we can't recognize it, or even a world with a gimmick, kind of like the old Earth X where it hadn't won the war. Those kinds of things, which are very easy and pat to put down. 

This is an earth that in some ways is very like [the main DCU Earth], but in very key important ways, it's also very different. And obviously, I can't reveal too much now, but by the end of the first issue, I guarantee you you'll get a sense of how this world is different and then how it's familiar at the same time."

I'm more inclined to believe Robinson's take on this rather than DC editorial and am figuring that all the stabby, grim and gritty talk is DC shouting "Look how menacing this all is!" just to get people talking. I'm not saying that's a good tactic (I really don't think it is) but Robinson's reply gives a little more hope, I think.



Something else that caught my eye was the following when he was asked about what we'll see in Earth-2:

"Well, you're going to see the status quo of the superhero community on Earth 2, which are the characters that DC revealed last week. And you're going to see them in a pretty extreme situation that has gripped the world at that time. 

And then from out of that conflict, you'll also see other familiar faces as they begin to get caught up in the dramas and begin to take the mantles of superheroes in the future. 

The characters that you're going to see in issue #1 will be Jay Garrick, Alan Scott and Al Pratt."

The characters revealed were Supes, Bats and Wondy rather than the names more closely associated with Earth-2 such as those he mentions at the end. So we have a "pretty extreme situation" that the three big heroes are in and then we'll see Jay, Alan and Al coming "out of that conflict".

My first thought was that he was planning to kill off the three big heroes and have the Earth-2 heroes come to the fore following that but reading the interview again, there seems to be more planned for the characters than a simple turn up, get killed, be avenged deal.

All we can tell is that something big is going to happen in the first issue of Earth-2 which will also lead into Worlds' Finest but what that will be is anyone's guess right now. Anyone have any?