Hello again, everyone. Last week turned out to be a bit of a chaotic mess–didn’t even get to finish D/B week on time which was disappointing–but I don’t want to go more than a week without a N52 review. In fact, I think I am going to try to start posting two of these a week since I have a ton more and I don’t want to string this out forever.
Luckily, today’s is both the first series of the second wave as well as another single volume, let us embrace the New Wonders of Earth 2!
What if the superheroes had to start over? What if The Death of Superman had no Return? That is the question posed by Earth 2, and the answer turns out to be “a new Golden Age.”
So, as I’ve mentioned probably a billion times at this point, one of my biggest issues with the New 52 is the lack of history present in the Pre-Flashpoint universe. The erosion of legacy was probably one of the top two or three complaints from fans, so this is by no means a new observation, but for me it was among the worst changes brought about by the reboot. Above all else, I love the history of comics. Not just the development of the medium, but the characters that represent the changing tastes of the audience. I love the Golden Age characters, and the JSA in particular. So to see them cast aside, made irrelevant to the history of DC, I really just hated it.
But…that’s not really how it went, was it? The issue was that I was thinking about the status quo of the main universe from a Post-Crisis framework, but as with much of the New 52, this was a return to how these characters worked Pre-Crisis: Barry Allen was Flash, Barbara was Batgirl, and the Justice Society was on Earth Two.
I still don’t care for that arrangement, but now I understand the decision at least. With the passage of time and reintegration of the JSA into Prime Earth, I’m now also more open to the idea of a revamped Earth Two. So how did it shake out? Pretty well, actually!
In the same way I actually don’t mind Action Comics by Morrison in an Ultimate Universe way, I found that I didn’t mind reading this in the same fashion. This is a proper reboot, with scant traces of the original JSA left. Alan, Jay, Kendra, and Al are all vastly different here than they’ve ever been. They’re young, hip, with the youth (as you can probably tell, I am none of those things). As such, I tried to put aside all of my love for the original versions of these characters and just embrace what I am given here. There’s no threat of them subsuming or overshadowing the OGs now, so why not give them a fair shake?
Let’s start with my favorite member of the JSA, Jay Garrick!
The Flash was the one character I had the most trouble adapting to. My love for Jay comes from his “Grandpa Flash” era with Wally. He reminded me of my grandfather in a lot of ways, and so stories where he and Wally would team up are universally quite special to me. Therefore taking away him being an old coot…I mean that’s 99% of his appeal to me. So how does this new character do? He’s decent. Not my favorite of this bunch, but I like that he’s a bit more of a slacker than uptight Barry. Jay always struck me as someone who used his powers to goof off back in the day, so really this lines up. I actually kind of like his new origin? I wasn’t expecting to, but I think if you’re going to make Flash I distinct from Flash II with their backstories being given around the same time, you could do worse than completely divorcing him from the scientific background. Tying it in with Greek mythology/WW lore, that’s always pretty interesting too. Overall, not bad, but far from what I’d want for the character generally.
Next, we’ll tackle the most controversial of this batch (for stupid reasons): Green Lantern Alan Scott. I remember quite a few articles being written about this guy back in the day. Really, when you think about it, this is probably one of the most offensive changes made in the New 52. They basically stripped this character of what made him so unique: his costume.
All green? Really? Who wants that? Where’s the red! Where are the traditional Alan Scott colors and features? This looks like the undersuit to the Kingdom Come armor. Bah, totally inferior to the classic suit.
Hm? Oh, you wanted me to talk about how he’s gay? Who gives a shit about that? I gotta talk about his costume!
Alright, FINE. It is Pride Month, after all.
The interesting thing about this is that they mostly left Alan’s origin the same:
guy on train with friend → train derails → friend dies → guy becomes GL
It’s not rocket science (it’s train science), but that subtle change of turning the person on the train with him from his friend into his lover shifts the focus of the character. Instead of seeking justice, he’s working through his grief. A very interesting and a fun way to contrast that with the 1940 origin. The moment toward the end of the book where he chooses to move forward, and that the Grey's offering was a lie, that was very powerful to me. I’d say Alan is probably my favorite overall of this bunch, the changes work really well while keeping most of his backstory intact. Taking the original character, tweaking an aspect of the character but not the whole thing, that is what I am looking for in one of these reboots. That's like The Penguin TV show, they gave Oz the aesthetics of an Italian-American mobster, but kept all of his personality and cunning. So on the outside it looks like a vastly different character, but upon examination you find a really strong adaptation. Similar here.
We’re going to do Hawkgirl, the Atom, and Solomon Grundy in one go since I don’t have a tremendous deal to say about any of them.
Kendra – We don’t get enough of her to have particularly strong opinions, but her personality feels generally in-line with the cartoon. (I know that’s a different character, but to the public that’s Hawkgirl.) I actually really dig the blue in the costume, but it’s completely inexplicable.
Al – I don’t like heroes working for the government, and that holds here. I’m more open to futzing with Pratt’s costume and powers than other characters, so that I’m fine with.
Solomon Grundy – Actually a really interesting reinvention for Grundy! Making him the avatar of the Grey is a neat way to tie him to Alan’s GL as well as DC lore. Now how does the Grey work with the Black? Not explained, but also not really important. I approve of this one.
Beyond the characters, the story is serviceable. We get the deaths of the Trinity, the origins of Flash and GL, and finally the formation of the “Wonders of the World” and their battle with Grundy. All good stuff, but mostly just trying to introduce you to the world and get the characters on the same page. The Trinity being dead I think is the most interesting choice, as I laid out at the start, because it sort of reverses the status quo we’re used to. To us, Jay, Alan, and the others predate the JLA by decades. They’re the old guard passing the torch to the new. Here, we get to see them be the ones to carry on for Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. That’s very interesting, though I know they try to get around that later.
The art by Nicola Scott is—as always—excellent. She’s among my favorite 2000s artists still working today. I poked fun at the GL costume, but I think for properly rebooted characters a lot of the designs are actually pretty interesting. I especially loved how she rendered the Grey, just this void of lost souls and torment. That’s nice, yes.
So, as I said before, this is not what I want from these characters. I would never want this, I would never ask for this, and unless they make an E2 compendium I will probably never continue this. But that does not make this bad! In fact, I think this is really quite good. If I had more time (and a compendium), I probably would finish this. Sure, it’s not what I want, but who cares? It is good, and at this point it isn’t affecting the JSA I love, so why not? I’d say if you were interested in a true “modernization” of the JSA, don’t mind alt universes, and are open to a very different take on these characters, you should absolutely check this out. Hell, if you’re a stickler for tradition like me, I would tell you to at least read the first trade. It works surprisingly well, especially the death of Batman and Alan’s story.
Check back Thursday, because it’s the Amazing Amazon’s turn at the wheel, and I am flush with opinions about that one.
This was the book I was most excited for in the entirety of the Nu52 and I don't remember why it went down hill for me. I have to give it another look.
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