The Comics Professor

An idea for DC's new Earth 2: Why not the pre-Flashpoint Earth?

Rather than update my last post on Earth 2 and Worlds' Finest yet again, Vaneta Rogers' latest Newsarama interview with Paul Levitz gives lots of new information and sets up some interesting possibilities that deserved a whole new post. (Good thing they're free.)

First, the news from the interview (which is very good, no surprise from Ms. Rogers and Mr. Levitz): The Huntress in Worlds' Finest is in fact the same as in the current mini (drawn by Marcus To), and Helena Bertinelli is simply one of several aliases she uses. She is actually the Helena Wayne of Earth 2, daughter of that Earth's Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle. And Power Girl is the Karen Starr we've seen in Mister Terrific. And both books take place on the New 52 Earth, but the Huntress and Power Girl were somehow stranded here from Earth 2, with the "how" being explained in James Robinson and Nicola Scott's Earth 2.

Wow.

So it seems that this Earth 2 may be similar to the "retro" Earth 2 shown in JSA following Infinite Crisis to which New Earth Power Girl found herself transported, with a combination of the pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths JSA and Infinity, Inc. (And which was drawn by Jerry Ordway, no less--quite a treat for fans of the 1980s Earth 2 books, such as me.) That also makes Worlds' Finest similar to Superman/Batman #27, which featured an adventure with the Earth 2 versions of Power Girl and Huntress "back in the day," after Infinite Crisis brought them back into continuity. And apparently there is going to be an "older" Batman (and Superman) on the new Earth 2, which got me thinking...

Why couldn't they make the new Earth 2 the pre-Flashpoint Earth? After all, the original Earth 2 was where DC shunted the Golden Age heroes to make room for the Silver Age revamps, so why not do the same with the pre-Flashpoint and post-Flashpoint worlds? If the point of rebooting relaunching the DCU is to introduce "fresh" younger versions of the characters, why not put the pre-relaunch ones on a new Earth 2 and continue their stories--and letting them age "naturally" (or what passes for naturally in the comics)? If this aging were retroactively allowed, then the pre-Flashpoint versions of Bruce and Selina could have easily known each other long enough to have an adult daughter by now--which would involve a little tweaking of the pre-Flashpoint continuity, but it would be a drop in the bucket compared to what we see now.

I doubt they would go this far (unfortunately), but I do suspect that when we see the new Earth 2 versions of Batman and Superman, they will look more like the Silver or Modern Age versions than the Golden Age ones; why go back to the very beginning of the DCU when newer fans will think that Superman and Batman with their "underwear on the outside" means the "old versions" anyway? In any case, the emphasis of the new Earth 2 will presumably be on the analogues of the original Earth 2 characters from the JSA and Infinity, Inc., with the possible addition of some of the newer JSAers added in the years leading up to Flashpoint, so we likely won't see any versions of the JLA or Teen Titans in any case.

I'm tremendously gratified to see the renewed emphasis on the original concept of Earth 2 and its rich group of characters, but I do think DC is missing an opportunity to revive the pre-Flashpoint DCU in a way that can placate old readers while not disturbing plans to gain new ones. But they do have dozens of other worlds to play with... hey Mr. Morrison, can I speak to you for a minute?

Earth 2 and Worlds' Finest bring the classics back to DC in May [UPDATED AGAIN!]

According to a brand spanking new press release in USA Today, DC is launching six "new" titles in May, including the long-hinted JSA title Earth 2 (supposedly written by James Robinson and pencilled by Nicola Scott) and Worlds' Finest, which is said to feature Power Girl and Huntress. The article they both spotlight "alternate worlds," so we can presume that this Power Girl and Huntess are on Earth 2 (the post-52 version of it) and are not Karen Starr as seen in Mister Terrific and Helena Bertinelli as seen in Paul Levitz and Marcus To's current (and excellent) Huntress mini. (I wonder about the Huntress, though, since Paul Levitz created the original Huntress, daughter of the Earth 2 Batman and Catwoman. And are we sure Mister Terrific doesn't take place on Earth 2 already? Hmm...)

UPDATE: A second article at USA Today gives more details on these two books:

Writer James Robinson reteams with the Justice Society for the new series Earth 2, which is being drawn by Nicola Scott, while Huntress and Power Girl are stranded on our world and want to return to theirs in Worlds' Finest, written by Paul Levitz with art by George Perez and Kevin Maguire in rotating story arcs. "What does that mean to be exiles from that Earth 2?" Harras says. "We thought it'd be a nice thing to bring this concept back and to really, as we did with the 52 initially, reconceive it and freshen it up."

UPDATE 2: This article just up at Newsarama confirms that the Huntress in Worlds' Finest is Helena Wayne, not Helena Bertinelli.

Of course, it is far too early to tell if (or, more likely, when) the residents of Earth 2 will meet the rest of the DCnU. (Note all that Worlds' is plural; I wonder if this will be an anthology title featuring other alternate universes as well, perhaps after Grant Morrison gets "done" with the multiverse.) I hope these books will restart to restore the sense of legacy that the traditional DCU possessed since the first Crisis collapsed the original multiverse and put the JSA and JLA on the same world (and earlier, given the frequent crossovers between Earth 1 and Earth 2). I don't mind the essential concept of superheroes being explored in a reinvented world that is meeting them for the first time--that has marvelous story possibilities--but at the same time I am partial to younger generations learning from these elders.

And I dream of seeing DCnU Superman get schooled by the older, wiser Earth 2 Superman--if Kal-L was upset in Infinite Crisis, wait til he sees the DCU now!

Brian Michael Bendis' run on the Avengers titles ending in 2012

Comic Book Resources has announced, at the end of a lengthy interview with Avengers mastermind Brian Michael Bendis, that he will end his tenure with the franchise in 2012:

"I'm going to wrap up 'Avengers' and 'New Avengers.' At the same time the first storyline of 'Avengers Assemble' will be done," Bendis told CBR. "It's a good time to move on to other things. Before I go, though, I'm ending things big. I'm in countdown mode. You know when you're watching a show like 'Breaking Bad,' and every episode feels like the second to last episode? That's where I'm at. I've been on the Avengers longer than anybody in the history of the book. When you take everything into account, I've written over 200 issues. I'm very, very proud of that, and what we have coming up this summer gives me the opportunity to go out on a high note. I know enough about showbiz to know that's a great time to go."

I have been a huge fan on Bendis' work on Avengers since the team was first disassembled, and his influence appears throughout Avengers and Philosophy. I hope to have more to say on his epic run in future posts.

Thank you, Mr. Bendis, for a groundbreaking run.

Hooray, Superman gets "brash" and "brooding"--at least we still have Cap

From DC's The Source we get press-friendly news about Superman's new status come September, including his very own "One More Day"-style marriage annulment (starring Barry Allen in the role of Mephisto, I'm sure), news that his alien nature will be emphasized over the quest for humanity (at least in Action Comics, which tells stories of his early days as Superman), and this wonderful nugget:

Timeless and modern, classic and contemporary, but younger, brasher and more brooding, this is Superman. The New Man of Tomorrow.

I wonder how "brash and brooding" (never mind "more" brooding--he wasn't brooding in the first place!) is going to sit alongside "noble and heroic." Oh wait--I think I know. (And remember, Supergirl will reportedly be much worse.) Tomorrow ain't looking so bright, my friends... but we do have collars and knee pads, "these are a few of my favorite things." (Ha!)

Ironic that we have to turn to Marvel, the home of brash and brooding, to find a prominent example of "old-fashioned" nobility among superheroes: Steve Rogers, once again Captain America. (If you have not checked out Brubaker and McNiven's new Captain America #1, out last Wednesday, be sure you do.) Even though I'm a lifelong DC fan at heart, I'm starting to say "Make Mine Marvel" a lot more often these days...

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By the way, be sure to check out my chapter on Captain America and modesty in the new free Kindle book, Superheroes: The Best of Philosophy and Pop Culture, just released by Wiley (see more here). Also in it: a new chapter on mercy and punishment in Asgard, my original chapter on whether Batman should kill the Joker, and much more...

And did I mention this is my 100th post at the new Comics Professor site? Please, no gifts--no, really--but spread the word far and wide...

The Huntress returns for five-issue mini in October

Thanks to Newsarama for bringing us news of the new Huntress mini-series starting in October:

DC has also exclusively revealed the Levitz-written, Marcus To and John Dell-drawn The Huntress five-issue series that also debuts in Month 2 of the DCnU...

Paul Levitz has something of a history with the character, as he's credited with Joe Staton and Bob Layton for co-creating (in 1977) the Helena Wayne version of the Gotham City-based vigilante (daughter of the pre-Crisis Earth Two Batman and Catwoman). That version was killed during 1985's Crisis on Infinite Earths, her existence erased from the new post-Crisis unified timeline, and she was replaced with the similarly-looking Helena Bertinelli version, now the daughter of a Gotham crime boss.

This 2011 revamp Huntress apparently has Italian roots, as DC reports she heads "home" to Italy to embark on a life-defining mission in this series, suggesting the DCnU version of the Huntress will likely remain Helena Bertinelli. It appears she will also continue to have ties with the Birds of Prey in the upcoming months.

A great character with tremendous potential--hopefully they don't erase or "revamp" much of her rich backstory, especially her recent Year One mini.

DC substitutes the lost Krypto story for tale of social prejudice in Superman #712 (UPDATED)

This morning at Newsarama, Jill Pantozzi points out that DC sent out a press release at the last minute announcing that today's Superman #712, which was supposed to contain a Roberson/Straczynski story about social prejudice in the context of the "Grounded" storyline, has been replaced by what fans have come to know as the "lost" Krypto story, written by Kurt Busiek during his lengthy "One Year Later" run on the Superman books, but was shunted aside for continuity reasons. Now that DC has much less regard for continuity, especially current (pre-September) continuity, they like that story again, but that could have gone in a special one-shot--and doesn't Krypto deserve his own book?

But back to the original story, which was solicited like this:

Meet Los Angeles’s newest super hero in the latest Chapter of “Grounded”: Sharif! But Sharif discovers that in today’s current cultural climate, some people don’t want his help – they just want him gone. Can Superman aid Sharif and quell a prejudiced public, or are there some problems too big even for the Man of Steel to solve?

Sounds perfect for the "Grounded" storyline, which was ostensibly meant to allow Superman to be a modern Hard Traveling Hero (without a pick-up truck and a plainclothes Guardian of the Universe) and encounters firsthand the ills of contemporary America. But DC apparently didn't see things the same way:

DC Comics determined that the previously solicited story did not work within the “Grounded” storyline.

Ominous, Orwellian... oh well.

As Roberson explained to Newsarama in an earlier interview (quoted by Pantozzi):

Like Superman, Sharif is a character with powers and abilities far beyond those of normal folks, who came to this country as a child and grew up dedicating himself to Truth, Justice, and the American Way. But the fact that he comes not from an alien world but from another country here on Earth complicates matters for him, and he quickly learns that some people have a different idea of what “The American Way” is all about.

Sounds like a terrific story, and one that I'm sure Roberson told with his customary insight, balance, and humor. Maybe in the run-up to the next reboot/relaunch, we'll have a chance to see it.

(For more on Superman and the American Way, see this post, as well as Andrew Terjesen's chapter "Is Superman an American Icon?" in Superheroes: The Best of Philosophy and Pop Culture, a promotional e-book coming from Wiley soon.)

UPDATE: And if the story change weren't enough, they also messed with George Perez's gorgeous cover--Bleeding Cool has the story here.

UPDATE 2: See Chris Sims' excellent and lengthy treatment, including Sharif's original appearance as Sinbad and incorporation of the Nightrunner controversy, at Comics Alliance.

UPDATE 3: Wow, this story gets better and better... Bleeding Cool gives the real reason behind the switch, and it has nothing to do with Sharif...

More details on the partial DC relaunch/reboot/free-for-all

From Bleeding Cool's report from the recent DC Retailer Roadshow in Burbank:

Action Comics and Justice League are set in the past, the Green Lantern, Batman and LSH books are all continuing without a reboot.  DCU Presents, Green Arrow and Hawkman are picking up where Brightest Day left off.  But for everything else, yes, it will be more of a reboot/restart.  They are basically keeping the books going that were financially successful for them and restarting everything else.

Wow--that's very upfront, and certainly quite a different picture from the May 31 announcement that implies a complete reboot.

Several questions remain, though:

1. Was Aquaman inadvertently left out of the Brightest Day group? Or did they say Hawkman by mistake, since the solicitation copy certainly makes Carter seem rebooted. (The same goes for Ollie, come to think of it.)
2. Superman--the current-day title--is not mentioned, nor is Wonder Woman, so we have to assume they're complete reboots, which has precedent given the John Byrne and George Perez reboots after Crisis on Infinite Earths (respectively).
3. It confirms whatever creators like Scott Snyder have been saying that changes in the Batman world will be organic and explained in story, rather than by deus ex machina (Latin for Superboy-punch or timestream manipulation).

Harras and Berganza reveal some real details on the DC relaunch

After the all-but-worthless "news" conference that Geoff Johns and Jim Lee held in LA last weekend, this morning brings the indefatigable* Vaneta Rogers' revealing interview with Bob Harras and Eddie Berganza, in which they are actually quite forthcoming about various details of the DC relaunch.

This passage in particular stands out (it's somewhat long, but I think it's worth it):

Nrama: We've been speaking with creators from different offices and families, and their approach seems to vary. The Batman writers seem to be going out of their way to stress how things aren’t going to be changing that much, but conversely, the Superman titles seem to be going through a radical change. Is there an over-arching editorial edict, or are the “rules” what individual editors and writers want them to be?

Harras: I think there's an overarching discussion. This was a well-thought-out approach to all our characters across the line. But we also looked at events that happened in the past that we wanted to incorporate into current storylines that were going to be part and parcel into our ongoing stories.

So we really did take everything very seriously and looked at big events like Blackest Night and Brightest Day, and wanted to make sure those stayed a part of our stories.

Berganza: Right. The ones that really impacted people, like Death in the Family and Killing Joke. The ones that even people outside regular comic readers know. People know something happened to Barbara Gordon, that the Joker shot her. That counts.

Harras: So we looked at all these characters and really said what we're going to weave in and what we're going keep and what we're going to move forward on.

Nrama: So to clarify, the storylines you've mention, like the Killing Joke and Death in the Family, are definitely part of history going forward?

Harras: Yes, and in fact, they're even important starting points for some of the storylines we have.

Nrama: But that doesn't mean other stories didn't happen, right?

Harras: Correct.

...

Nrama: How were these stories chosen? Because of important deaths? Or collections? Or because they were part of the upcoming stories?

Harras: We're taking this September event very seriously. We looked at what was important to our characters, what we thought were pivotal moments in their lives and could actually make more drama going forward. What really went on was a very comprehensive look at their histories, and Eddie and his team compiled a timeline for our history going forward, and everything that we thought was integral and important was part of that.

Berganza: It was all about the character. It wasn't so much, "what did this event do?" but "what did it do to the individuals?" If we got more story out of it, then definitely, that's what we were definitely going for. For instance, with Killing Joke, that event in the Bat-family is really crucial to what we're doing.

I like their approach, but it seems they're trying to have their cake and eat it too--they want to keep important and treasured continuity, but still make the stories from September on accessible to new readers. But either the continuity is referenced or not--and if they're confident they can tell approachable stories while still retaining a good chunk of existing continuity, then why the big relaunch at all? Why couldn't they just give everyone an editorial mandate that stories must be more character-driven and less mired in continuity, without wiping out that continuity or restructuring the entire universe (e.g., possibly removing the Golden Age altogether)?

In fact, Berganza suggests that this very approach worked before:

We respect continuity, but I think even the fans will admit that once you get too mired in continuity, you start getting away from what's essential, which is character. If you look at what Geoff Johns has done with each time he relaunches a book, you see that it becomes very focused on character, and you don't get into questions about whether the Green Lantern fought this menace or this other menace, or where did evil start or the Starlings. You get more into the core of the character. And I think people have reacted very well to that. I think that's a fine model, where it doesn't get mired in continuity.

Then why didn't they just continue to do that? The only answer seems to be the huge publicity they got from the relaunch--and I do not want to minimize the value of that, if they can get a nice bump in sales from it.

It just seems like an increasingly intricate balancing act: attracting new readers by promising more approachable and character-driven stories, while reassuring longtime fans that their beloved continuity beats won't be forgotten, but just pushed to the background. Let's hope they can pull it off...

* I maintain this word is one of the most difficult to say clearly, especially when you and your audiobook producer descind into giggle fits. So I'm trying to "own" it...

Scott Lobdell discusses Teen Titans at Bleeding Cool

Bleeding Cool has a lengthy interview with Scott Lobdell, chiefly about his Teen Titans relaunch - this part stood out to me as reassuring-yet-confusing:

Tim Drake is a perfect example.  Yes, he figured out Bruce’s secret identity and yes he became Robin and yes things happened in his past that prompted him to move on from that role and become Red Robin.  How long ago was that?  What brought him from there to issue one of Teen Titans?  I’d like to leave it vague enough that long time fans can take comfort in knowing a lot of the stories they loved still happened…and a lot of new readers (or fans who haven’t read the book in five or ten or twenty years) can sit down with issue one and feel they haven’t missed out on several decades of continuity with these characters and this world.

Similarly, Superboy comes to Teen Titans and his own series with a lot of his D.C.history in place.  He still showed up shortly after the Death of Superman, he is still the clone of Superman and Lex Luthor.  How we reconcile his past with the opening issues of Teen Titans and Superboy?   That, I’m afraid, has to remain vague for now (it is bad enough if someone in the audience shouts out the ending of the movie — imagine how much more depressing it would be if the writer shouted out the end of the movie four months before the movie was released!).

Are there changes and trims and tweaks — in some cases total re-imagining of characters?   Yes.   But, you’ll find, even with those characters, 95% per cent of them are totally recognizable.   (Bart isn’t a serial killer sentenced to the present from the 30th Century.   Cassie is still the daughter of archeologist Helena Sandsmark.)

OK--how can some characters undergo a "total re-imagining" yet "95% of them are totally recognizable"? Besides that, I find Lobdell's explanation reassuring, if only because Tim's background seems relatively unchanged (yet I don't see how a de-aging will be possible, but the inconsistency of that across the DCnU is one of the most frustrating things about the relaunch.

More Superman, Supergirl, Superboy details post-Flashpoint

The Source has the rest of the Superfamily details post-Flashpoint:

Superman #1 (note: no subtitle, as reported previously) will be written by George Perez but pencilled by Jesus Merino. "What is Superman’s startling new status quo? How does it affect his friends, loved ones and his job at The Daily Planet?"

Supergirl #1 will be written by Michael Green and Mike Johnson and drawn by Mahmud Asrar. She has "a teenager, the same powers as Superman and none of his affection for the people of Earth." (Wonderful.)

Superboy #1 will be written by Scott Lobdell with art by R.B. Silva and Rob Lean. "They thought he was just a failed experiment, grown from a combination of Kryptonian and human DNA. But when the scope of his stunning powers was revealed, he became a deadly weapon."