Quick review-Earth-2 #1

By James Robinson and Nicola Scott

The second wave of DC’s New 52 started this week with World’s Finest and Earth-2, both establishing the multiverse that DC has promised since Infinite Crisis back in 2005. I did enjoy the Golden Age which established an alternate version of the DCU in the 1940’s and bled into Starman and the JSA comics that arrived much later. I’m also a big fan of Robinson’s Starman, but not so much of his Justice League or Superman work that came afterwards. As such, I was not sure what to expect with this issue but what I got is… strange.

Earth-2 opens with a fight for survival against a horde of parademons from Apokalypse (Darkseid’s homeworld). This is also how the New 52 Justice League of America reboot started, so I was kind of confused. In Earth-2, it appears that only three superheroes are left standing; Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, along with Supergirl and Robin as back-up. The parademons appear to be unstoppable and the massive towers that control Darkseid’s armies are replaced as quickly as they are taken down.

Luckily Batman has a cunning plan (like Blackadder) and assaults a tower while the Robin provides covering fire from the Batwing and Superman battles a wave of parademons alongside Wonder Woman. Where’s Supergirl? Guarding a series of nuclear missile sites set to fire should the heroes fail. Batman introduces a virus to the tower and the control signal to the parademons is halted, but not before Wonder Woman and Superman are killed by Steppenwolf. Batman also dies in the tower’s explosion. Supergirl and Robin fly into a weird portal into the pages of World’s Finest and… that’s about it.

Yes, the first issue of a new series introduces and kills its main cast then shunts the supporting characters over into another comic.

Al Pratt (the Atom of the JSA) also has a brief cameo as a Sergeant guarding one of the nuclear missile sites. Not much development is given to him other than the fact that he is short and cranky yet beloved his soldiers. Then he gets killed too.

Five years later, the focus shifts to Alan Scott (also known as the first Green Lantern in the pre-New 52 universe) who is a sort of sleazy corporate suit and Jay Garrick who is a cloying loser who helps his ex-girlfriend Joan pack for her trip to a new life on the other side of the country.

So… a strange comic.

Batman attacks an Apokalyptian Control Tower with covering fore from Robin

The artwork by Scott is great in the action sequences. There was a lot of build-up to this series focusing on the redesigns of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman and they all look fantastic on the page. But… they’re already dead first month in! I’m thinking that the ‘real’ leading cast will slowly be revealed as Alan Scott becomes Green Lantern and Garrick takes on the mantle of the Flash, but they are already so unappealing that I’m not sure that I’ll stick around to see.

Earth-2 is a bold attempt on DC’s part to recapture some of its lost potential from the pre-Crisis world prior to 1985. The Justice Society of America was the first superhero team of DC Comics, uniting the biggest names in their publishing world under one title. Revived in the pages of Flash’s monthly book, the JSA were re-introduced as older heroes from a parallel world. This concept was further developed in Roy Thomas and Jerry Ordway’s amazing All-Star Squadron comic that spawned several spin-offs ranging from Infinity Inc. to Young All-Stars.

Of course that all came to a sad end when the Multiple Earths were blended into one.

The All-Star Squadron

Along with Geoff Johns, James Robinson is responsible for bringing back interest in the JSA so I am sure that, given time, he will have similar success with Earth-2.

However, I was very let-down with this issue as it killed off all of the interesting characters and tied into another comic for the continuing story of Robin and Supergirl! The narration is also very clunky and the dialog uninspired (‘Die, human!’).

For the start of the second wave of the New 52, this does not fill me with hope.

I want OMAC back, a much more fun and innovative comic.

The All-Star Squadron

The most prolific and high profile fan-turned-creator in comic books has to be Roy Thomas. After starting up the WWII era superhero team the Invaders for Marvel Comics, Thomas was asked by DC Editorial to work some of his magic for their wartime time the Justice Society of America. Rather than bring the team forward into a contemporary setting, Thomas placed the adventures in the early days of World War II as America found itself part of the war against the Axis Powers. Rather than stick to the standard JSA lineup, Thomas decided to make the most of his toybox full of ideas and utilized every character available to him from the Golden Age of DC Comics such as Liberty Belle, Jessy Quick and Robotman.

Formed by a Presidential edict to combat attempts at sabotage on the home front, the All-Star Squadron took the place of the more popular heroes who had become captured by the Nazi supervillain Per Degaton. By using the Spear of Destiny, Hitler had found a way to harness occult magic to ward off the American superheroes from his shores. After America officially joined the war effort, several superheroes were compelled to enlist and serve their country in the armed forces. This left much of the ‘heavy lifting’ to the second stringers and newcomers to the superheroing realm and also provided a unique inlet to new readers.

For many readers this was not the first or even second time the World War II-era heroes had been seen. The Justice Society team members had become staples of the Justice League of America series in several annual team-ups. Even so, this was the first time characters such as the Golden Age Atom and Hawkman were shown in their element, fighting Nazis.

It may surprise some who think of showcase solo series such as Batman and Spider-Man as being the most popular comic series, but team-oriented books have their own unique appeal. It may have something to do with the reader picking out his or her favorite team member that they can connect to. In the 80’s, team books like the New Teen Titans and Justice League of America were selling well, so DC’s addition of a new team book could have back-fired by over-saturating the market. However, it soon built up its own fan base and was so popular that years later a revival in the form of JSA was possible.

A somewhat bizarre series as it was a period piece adventure series, All Star Squadron featured some of my favorite heroes such as Commander Steel (a recent creation from the 1978 series by Gerry Conway and Don Heck). Steel was an interesting character for DC as he was part of a larger legacy dating back to 1939 and forward to the contemporary time period. The All Star Squadron series was the perfect opportunity for DC to create a seamless path from its earliest days to the present day by telling stories of the DC Universe as the first of its heroes started to gain recognition in the world.

The series garnered a cult following of sorts and also allowed for a new rising star comic artist to impress readers. Jerry Ordway’s first major series for DC Comics proved to be a staggering challenge for the artist. Taking a look at nearly any issue, a reader could see so many characters cluttering the pages that you could almost feel Ordway’s wrist cramping.

Unfortunately, the Crisis of 1985 rewrote so much of DC History that the All-Star Squadron was cancelled and restarted as the Young All-Stars. Co-written by Dann Thomas, the restarted series introduced all new characters to the WWII era such as Iron Munro, Flying Fox, The Fury and Dan the Dyna Mite. I remember buying the initial issues of the deluxe format series and being excited about these new heroes who were apparently designed to take the places left open by Wonder Woman, Batman, Aquaman and Superman who had been written out of 1930’s continuity.

In time, the concept of a legacy left by the JSA was taken up again in a series called Infinity Inc. dealing with the progeny of Justice Society members. This in turn led to James Robinson’s The Golden Age mini-series, analyzing the end of the wartime era of superheroes. So interested did Robinson become that he write Starman along with Tony Harris and started polishing the many forgotten facets of DC Comics history.

Fans of the Justice League cartoon may be a little confused as the characters seen here bear a strong resemblance to the fictional heroes of John Stewart’s childhood seen in the two part adventure ‘Legends.’ Apparently Bruce Timm and his team were all geared up to produce a JLA/JSA team-up story but were stopped at the last moment by editorial who were afraid that a campy depiction of the heroes would sully the otherwise sophisticated depiction of the heroes in the popular monthly JSA series. It’s unfortunate and confusing, but still a great episode.

The Justice Guild

It’s interesting to note that today DC Comics has a rich tapestry of legacies and lineages tapping the resources found in nearly every printed comic they produced (even Amethyst!). The All-Star Squadron was definitely a strong influence on this usage of ideas that had fallen by the way-side. After you include a character like Shining Knight there really is no going back…