Thoughts on COIE, IC, 52, & Countdown.

[Super Monkey]

Hurray for Showcase editions.

[llozymandias]

     Earth-1 should be silver-age DC.  All-Star Superman is not the silver-age version, even though he has elements of that version.  All-Star Superman should have his own earth/universe in the new DC Multiverse.  Just as i also think that every tv/movie/cartoon/comic strip version of DC's characters should have their own earths/universes.  Multiverses & possibilities should always be limitless.  Some people claim that means bothing matters.  I disagree.  Think of any deceased friend or relative.  Imagine that you meet their living counterpart from a "nearby" parallel earth.  I doubt you would forget that your loved one is still dead.


      Dto, what is so awful about the idea of having Superman's 70th anniversary be the conclusion of the big event DC started in 2005?  Granted that the story in Action Comics #1 was actually written in 1934 or 35.  So technically Superman's actual 70th anniversary could be said to have been in 2004 or 05.   

[jamespup]

I agree

I am enjoying the heck out of JUSTICE, and I don't need it to be on any particular earth for me to enjoy it.

From the Wikipedia article:

Many aspects of Justice appear to relate to the Silver Age of comic books; Ross has a well-known affinity for that era. However, key differences distinguish the series from taking place in either Pre-Crisis or Post-Crisis DC Universe continuity. The series either takes place in a newly-rebooted past (post-Infinite Crisis), or in a parallel universe. Unlike other "imaginary" stories that fall outside of DC continuity, Justice does not bear the Elseworlds label.

Particularities of Justice's timestream and continuity:

    * Lex Luthor is still a mad scientist; there is no relation to his modern age backstory.
    * Brainiac appears in the form and costume of his first incarnation, Vril Dox.
    * Barry Allen, Iris West, Katar Hol, Hawkwoman, the original Doom Patrol, Black Manta and Arthur Curry Jr. are all alive.
    * Wonder Woman is on the team with Barry Allen. Following the original Crisis, Wonder Woman's debut didn't occur until after Barry Allen's death. Though post-Infinite Crisis continuity has restored her status as as a founding member, this was not the case when Justice started.
    * Hal Jordan still works at Ferris Aircraft Co. (In the current DC continuity, the character works at Edwards Air Force Base.)
    * The Cheetah is Priscilla Rich.
    * Ray Palmer is active as the Atom, and is depicted as talking to Jean Loring on his phone.
    * The Parasite is the Silver Age version, Maxwell Jensen.
    * Doc Magnus is not Veridium of the Metal Men.
    * Aquaman has both of his hands, and is still married to Mera.
    * Metallo does not appear to have morphing powers and is depicted with his Silver Age appearance of dark hair and mustache, as opposed to his current appearance (blonde hair, no facial hair).
    * Bizarro seems to be a villain, as he is in the Super Friends version rather than in his comic book appearances.
    * Elongated Man is on active duty.
    * Sue Dibny is alive.
    * Giganta appears in her Golden Age persona as an evolved ape rather than in her Dr. Zheul persona.
    * Leslie Thompkins is trusted by Batman and is a practicing doctor.
    * Captain Marvel, the Marvel Family and Black Adam all live on the same world as Superman.
 

[llozymandias]

     Justice should definetely have its own earth in the DC Multiverse.   Maybe Earth-9 (or Earth-11) could be the one otherwise known as Earth-Q or Earth-Quality.  How about this?  In the new multiverse, Earth-2 is just DC characters.  It could still have an All-Star Squadron in its history.  Also the traditional JLA/JSA crossovers would be more interesting (to me anyway) if they involve 4 titles on 3 earths.  Earth-1/Justice League of America;  Earth-2/Justice Society of America;  New Earth(Earth-0 or Earth-52)/current versions of both teams.  Of course an ongoing Whos Who would help.  There are several properties i would like to see DC acquire & add to its multiverse.  They include:  Hero Alliance; Power Facter; Justice Machine; T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents; the universe of Future Comics; and of course many others.

[Gangbuster]

My understanding of the new '52 earths' is that they are not the pre-Crisis multiverse; they are simply a way of DC being able to sell title characters with more than one continuity at the same time. See here: http://www.606studios.com/bendisboard/showthread.php?t=112868

While this seems like a good idea to be able to market different product lines to different groups (or sometimes factions) of comic book fans, this could fail as badly as Crisis on Infinite Earths, for these reasons:

1) What about new readers? Who could possibly follow what is going on in the larger, crossoverish DCU right now? Really!

2) Having 52 different earths does not address alternate timelines, as hypertime did. For example, All-Star Superman and Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow seem to both be alternate splits from the timeline of Earth-1 Superman. (The latter future Superman appeared in Superman/Batman issues, and therefore must exist some...when?) Likewise, there are the Earth-1 timeline splits of Kamandi's future vs. the Legion's future.

3) Writers and editors who supported the goal of Crisis on Infinite Earths- that is, to "simplify" the confusion caused by 6 or 7 earths, are going to be falling over one another trying to get their hands on the axe this time. Eventually, someone will let them.

4) The main question: did everything still happen? Hypertime allowed for the Marvel universe to exist as part of the DC Universe, in a separate timestream. Did the Marvel crossovers still happen? What about everything else for the last 70 years?

[llozymandias]

     All-Star Superman is not the silver-age/Earth-1 version.  The Earth-1(silver-age) Superman frequently cleaned his uniform by flying into the center of the sun.  Yellow star rays seemed to be more like an "on" switch for his powers.  All-Star Superman is a solar battery more like the current version. 

[Super Monkey]

All Star Superman is just Grant Morrison cherry picking his favorite parts of Superman through the Ages (not the website ) and adding lots of cool new elements and remixing the old ones to make them fresh and new again, without losing what made the pre-crisis versions so cool in the 1st place. It's a lot harder than it looks!

[llozymandias]

All Star Superman is just Grant Morrison cherry picking his favorite parts of Superman through the Ages (not the website ) and adding lots of cool new elements and remixing the old ones to make them fresh and new again, without losing what made the pre-crisis versions so cool in the 1st place. It's a lot harder than it looks!

  I have followed All-Star Superman from the first issue.  I do think it should have its own earth in the DC Multiverse.  Just not Earth-1.


          Notice how Grant Morrison calls DC's new multiverse a megaverse?  Marvel also says it has a megaverse.  The levels of reality/existance to Marvel basically are: universe; multiverse, contains a nigh-infinite number of universes; megaverse, contains a nigh-infinite number of multiverses; omniverse, the totality of all reality/existance..  Could Grant be hinting at something here?  In Countdown #51 Dan Didio says "there is no stopping the constant evolution of the DC Universe.  And with COUNTDOWN we are entering into our next and possibly greatest phase of change.  Be warned.".  I hope this means we end up with an infinite DC Multiverse.