WTF Was That All About? Part 2

Last week saw the final gatefold covers of DC's aborted WTF Certified event in April. The name of the now non-event was widely derided after it was revealed, and rightly so, but the covers themselves - the main cover supplemented by a surprise on the gatefold - was a neat idea. I tried to remain as spoiler free as I could, both in the run up to it when covers were being released on the net, and in my weekly Cocktail posts.

Now it's all over, I figure it's time for a quick look at the ones I bought, continued from yesterday. So, in alphabetical order...

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #224

Power Girl forgets the point where confidence ends and arrogance starts

DC's April Solicitations

Just a brief look at a few things that caught my eye in the solicitations from DC, over and above my normal Don't Ask... post from yesterday.

AQUAMAN #19 - sports a lovely cover and asks "The Ice King takes the throne as the true king of Atlantis—but who will be the first to kneel before him?" I suppose it's way too much to ask for a connection between this guy and Ice, is it?

Who Was Who Is Who #31

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 Mysto's chance.

MR. TERRIFIC - the Michael Holt version of the character is definitely in place, despite his series getting cancelled so that alone puts him in the in place column. A few months back (at least from the time of writing in mid-March) DC released some teaser designs and there was a different Mr Terrific featured, so it seems likely we'll see an Earth-2 version at some point as well.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #175

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

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #171

Oh yeah, Ray Palmer shows he's still got it.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #166

You can't say fairer than that.

Don't Ask... Just Buy It! Justice League International #8

From the solicitation:

"The plan was for the JLI was to be installed as Earth’s official protective team. But once Breakdown attacked, that all came to a swift and sudden end. Now, as the pall of death and injury hang over the team, all that matters is survival. Featuring the introduction of a surprise new team member!"

A "surprise new team member"? Would that be Batwing on the cover? If so, it's not much of a surprise. Unless they're referring to the JLI's mystery woman?

New Guys On The Block?

Most, if not all, of DC's latest issues (certainly the ones I saw last week) featured a double page spread of "sneak peeks" at the back, showcasing "some concept sketches of characters you may be seeing in upcoming months" and invited us to guess where they'd appear.

I'm not going to go through all of them, but there were a few that caught my eye:

That sure as heck looks like Nighthawk to me and I figure he's going to be turning up in the pages of the wonderful All-Star Western sometime soon.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #162

That's what comics need: good, old-fashioned politeness.

Sometimes I Hate Being Right

Just a couple of days ago, I wrote a post about the possibility of some DC titles being cancelled fairly soon and ended with this:

"if I had to put my money on one book I'm getting that won't make it to a number 12 . . . I guess I'd have to offer up Mr Terrific."

And what do I read over at the DCU Source blog just a day or so later but this:

"In May of 2012, DC Comics will release a “Second Wave” of titles as part of its historic DC COMICS-THE NEW 52 initiative. Six new, ongoing series will build on the shared universe and bold concepts introduced in September 2011 with the renumbering of DC Comics’ entire line of comic books . . . The six new series will replace BLACKHAWKS, HAWK AND DOVE, MEN OF WAR, MISTER TERRIFIC, O.M.A.C. and STATIC SHOCK, all of which will conclude with their eighth issues in April."

So, farewell Michael Holt, it was a nice experiment, just a shame it didn't work.

Still, there's some good news as the six series replacing these include the following:

"EARTH 2 – Writer: James Robinson. Artist: Nicola Scott. The greatest heroes on a parallel Earth, the Justice Society combats threats that will set them on a collision course with other worlds. 

WORLDS’ FINEST – Writer: Paul Levitz. Artists: George Perez and Kevin Maguire. Stranded on our world from a parallel reality, Huntress and Power Girl struggle to find their way back to Earth 2. Perez and Maguire will be the artists on alternating story arcs."

Earth-2 we sort of knew about as the Justice Society title that's been spoken of for a while, but check out Worlds' Finest - Huntress and Power Girl in an ongoing with art by George Perez and Kevin Maguire!

It's official - today is a good news day.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #158

Parents - they have no idea how to talk to your girlfriend, do they?

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #154

Always good to know what you're sitting on.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #150

Or gender, and rightly so.

Terrific Dialogue

With Mister Terrific #1, Eric Wallace dives into the realm of British dialogue as Mr Terrific pops over to this side of the water to catch a bad guy and on the whole it's not bad.

"Wicked" is, perhaps, a little dated but still viable. The "space biker riding three snooker balls" kinda works even though the bloke speaking must have excellent eye-sight to make out the T-spheres but the "Nice bum" comment from the woman would have been better if it read "Nice arse" instead.

Thanks heavens for small mercies they weren't all shouting "Crikey! How terribly spiffing!"

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #146

Madame Xanadu displays her grasp of British colloquialisms.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #143

Haven't we all, Guy, haven't we all . . .

Voodoo's Not Terrific

Apologies for the dreadful punning post title.

On Wednesday, I posted the above cover to Voodoo #2 and mentioned the left hand character's resemblance to Power Girl or, more correctly in the new DCU, Karen Starr.

It seems unlikely, though, that it is her as this came out during a DC panel earlier this weekend:

The next question was about a statement earlier in the day that Karen Starr would appear in "Mr. Terrific." Confirming the fan's suspicions, [Mr Terrific writer Eric] Wallace said, "Power Girl may or may not exist in this universe, but Karen Starr does."

So Karen Starr's going to be in Mr Terrific and may or may not be Power Girl. Another comment Wallace made was kinda interesting:

Wallace then spoke about the difficulty of writing "Mr. Terrific." "I'm not the second or third smartest person in the world," he said. Wallace again cited James Bond, but also said there's a huge science fiction aspect to it. "'Anything can happen' has sort of been our motto from the start," he said, adding that the character goes into space "rather quickly."

I suppose the "science fiction aspect" and Terrific heading "into space" could both lead to a Power Girl appearance but, again, I guess we wait and see.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #136

Something tells me the Challengers of the Unknown aren't taking things seriously any more

Good News, Everyone!

Following the big announcement about the DCU reboot, we're getting more details as the time goes one. Just read this over at the DCU blog:

"A team of internationally-drafted superheroes fight each other and their bureaucratic supervisors as much as they do global crime in JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #1 from writer Dan Jurgens and artist Aaron Lopresti. The cover to issue #1 is by Aaron Lopresti."

And here's the cover: