I Predict A Lawsuit

Over on Earth-2, the bad Superman - brainwashed or possessed into believing he's the herald of Darkseid - orders his Parademons to destroy all the houses of worship to reinforce his belief that the only god is Darkseid.

I've condensed the captions from the first few panels on to the top of one that made me raise an eyebrow:

Scientology is one of the "fictions they have invented"?

I don't disagree but I'm surprised, knowing how litigious Scientologists can be, that DC let this through. Maybe their defence will be that on Earth-2, it's acknowledged as fiction?

Robin's Double Standards

The recent Worlds' Finest Annual featured the young Helena Wayne as Robin battling some crooks and taking one out in a particularly nasty manner:

That's an iron poker right through the chest and stomach, killing the guy. Self defence could be argued, sure, but she still kills him.

Later on she, Supergirl and Wonder Woman battle Fury who had previously killed someone that Supergirl was sweet on. Fury gets away through a Boom Tube, leaving Robin to report back:

"She's a killer."

Yes, Robin, she is. Just like you.

Martha Wayne's Marvellous Moving Neckline

When the young Thomas Wayne meets Martha for the first time on Earth-2, he probably thinks one thing: CLEAVAGE!

Thankfully, Martha's wearing the latest in mind-reading dresses and quickly sorts out the problem as, in the very next panels . . .

I'm not adverse to a bit of flesh being exposed in the right context but a little consistency would be good.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #253

Judging by the construction of his sentence, I'd say it's fairly obvious he's not using it

DC's January Solicitations

All-Star Western #27

Hex’s journey through the modern age continues! Guess whose attention Hex attracts as he makes his way to Metropolis!

Hex facing off against Superman - can't wait!

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #245

And, as we all know, size matters

DC's October Solicitations

Is it me or is artist Juan Doe just doing superb work with these covers for the Steppenwolf War storyline? Limited palette, a poster feel, block lettering . . . I'm really liking them.

A Whole Bunch Of News

Having recovered from the weekend's exertions, I come back to find the internet has been pumping out all sorts of news:

Tom Taylor is the new Earth 2 writer while Nicola Scott remains on art. I know nothing about the Injustice: Gods Among Us series he's been writing so will have to take his stories at face value.

Everything New (52) Is Old Again. Again.

Confirmation of what a lot of people had known/suspected was released yesterday - DC is having a Villain's Month event in September. Alongside that was news of Forever Evil, a seven issue miniseries that will allow the creators (Geoff Johns and David Finch) to "really exploring what darkness means and the different kinds of darkness that are within these villains."

Villains which apparently include Sinestro whom Johns himself sent away never to be heard from again only a couple of weeks ago. Seems neither death nor exile are permanent these days.

And is that really Dumb Bunny in the background or am I seeing things?!

"As rumored, each of the New 52 series will change titles for that month and shift focus to antagonists like Darkseid, Bizarro, Gorilla Grodd, Two-Face and Poison Ivy."

You can see some of the titles with their funky moving 3D covers here but the one that caught my eye was this:

As you can see, that's Earth 2 but it features Power Girl, Huntress and Desaad, all of whom have been gracing the pages of Worlds' Finest. Does that PG and Huntress get to Earth 2?

In a separate interview, Jim Lee says of the new covers:

""They’re amazing covers. It’s an effect that you haven’t seen before... it’s an entire cover," Lee said. "...The colors and the depth of field allows you to actually see the logo of the new book. Let’s say the Joker is taking over, it’ll be the Batman title in the background, and you’ll see the Joker title splattered on top of the Batman logo itself. It really sells the concept in a very visual way.""

I'll grant you we may not have seen moving covers quite like this before but as for the villains' logos superimposed on the heroes'.... didn't that "sell the concept in a very visual way" back in 2009?

      

      

   

James Robinson Leaving Earth-2

I don't often break from my regular publishing schedule but this piece of news really did make me sit up and take notice. From the article:

"So as of today I am leaving Earth 2 with Issue #16. It's been a blast," Robinson tweeted. In a follow-up, he wrote, "Yes, this also means I'm no longer working at DC Comics. Best wishes and regards to Dan, Geoff and everyone."

This is really odd as Earth 2 is a good seller and Robinson was talking about his plans for the series only a couple of months ago, planning stories well into 2014.

I won't speculate on the reasons behind the somewhat abrupt departure, but I will be sad to see him go.

Monday Memories #6 - All-Star Squadron #37

Each Monday this year I'll be taking a look back at a random comic, prestige format issue, graphic novel or collection of reprints from amongst my 3,000 or so comics that date from 1962 to 2003 - I figured anything in the last ten years would be too recent to hark back to.

The comics are chosen completely at random and apart from a four week lead-in period, even I don't know what I'll be looking at in the weeks to come!

Earth 2 #11

Dr Fate returns, everyone!

"As Dr Fate emerges as the latest hero on Earth 2, what other heroes make a most unexpected appearance?"

Any guesses? Hourman, maybe?

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #211

You have to admit, he's got a point - the clue was in the name.

Earth 2 #10

From the solicitations:

As Wotan holds The Flash’s mother hostage, Khalid must finally come to terms with his destiny as Doctor Fate!

Wotan! The new Dr Fate! Man, this series just keeps getting better.

Earth 2 #6

From the solicitation:

Written by JAMES ROBINSON
Art by NICOLA SCOTT and TREVOR SCOTT
• The Green vs. The Grey! Who will decide the fate of this dying Earth: Green Lantern or Grundy?
• Will the new wonders of Earth band together to form the first super team since the death of the Trinity?
• Does super-genius Sloan really know what’s best for this world?

In order, I'm guessing Green Lantern; yes; and probably not though he thinks he does.

DC's September Solicits

I don't normally go through the solicitations with any great detail, just enough to pick out a Don't Ask post and that's about it. With all these zero issues coming out in September, a few things caught my eye:

Written by TONY BEDARD and KEITH GIFFEN
Art and cover by IG GUARA and J.P. MAYER
On sale SEPTEMBER 19 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Where was the Scarab before it merged with the current Blue Beetle, Jaime Reyes?

Look - Keith Giffen's writing Blue Beetle again! Couple that with the fact that the story's about the scarab before Jaime and the internet explodes with Ted Kord anticipation in three . . . two . . . one . . .

Earth 2 Hawkgirl

CBR has an exclusive look at the cover of Earth 2 #4 which features the new Hawkgirl:

You can see a much bigger version over at CBR where James Robinson says

"As the co-creator of the original Kendra Saunders, I've taken pains to keep the essence of her personality while adding a more two-fisted quality to her as well. I'm also enjoying developing another aspect to her, in that with the absence of Batman, she must also step up and become the great detective of Earth 2."

The character not only looks good - big white wings, dual pistols - but she gets to be the detective of the Justice Society as well.

Happy days, eh?

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #178

Good advice whatever world you're on

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.

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.