In terms of digital release, I see that the rest of the titles are available on the Comixology app. They still aren’t, for some bizarre reason, on the actual DC app. And Flashpoint #5 isn’t on either.
Did you read the thread? They have Grant Morrison doing Action Comics. I think that’s pretty big. I don’t really know who’s new. Geoff Johns is on Justice League with Jim Lee and on Aquaman with Ivan Reis. Gail Simone is doing Batgirl, which people seem to like. Liefeld is drawing Hawk and Dove, which seems to be attracting new readers. I assume they’re new readers, anyway, since no one who’s seen his work already would buy it. 
When the newness and novelty wears off, hopefully they’ll have iconic versions of great characters doing interesting things and a new generation of people reading them.
So should every episode or season of Breaking Bad and Doctor Who, but it’s just not possible.
When I decided to start reading superheroes a few months ago, I started with Geoff Johns’ Green Lantern run in TPBs. I thought he did an awesome job making the character accessible to someone like me with almost no preexisting knowledge of the character or the universe. Nevertheless, I was running toi Wikipedia to figure out who Superboy Prime and Hank Henshaw are. Superboy Prime I’m still not sure about. He started in an obscure and apparently uncollected comic 25 years ago. According to Wikipedia, he’s supposed to be the Superman from the real world–as in the world you and I live in. Huh??? And then that universe–the real world–was destroyed, leaving him in the DCU. Double huh???
Hank Henshaw’s easier to explain, but even he’s from a storyline that’s nearly 20 years old. And most of John’s early run was about GL dealing with the recovery of Coast City from its recent destruction. Which also happened almost 20 years ago! When that’s recent, it’s time for a reboot!
Anyway, they’re calling this a “soft reboot,” which means it’s a new universe, but with a lot of the same history. I think of it like Justice League Unlimited–they didn’t do an origin for each character and a lot of them had a background that was apparently the same as in the DCU, but nothing was “official” in that continuity until it was refered to, allowing them to simplify things and make them accessible for people who hadn’t read the comics.
We’ll see. I don’t believe them when they say they won’t have “events” any more. I think the “mysterious woman” pretty much puts the lie to that. She also looks like an awfully convenient way for them to undo this whole thing. :rolleyes: But I’m hopeful.
What is it that makes him Superman? In Action, he’s definitely the same character that Joe and Jerry created in the 30’s. Is he the same character you grew up with? That depends on when you grew up, of course. But to be honest, I just can’t see this Superman burning Juimmy’s Father’s Day present after adopting him. So maybe not.
AIUI, Superboy Prime’s not from the real world, he ended up in the real world.
DataZak, Alan: I grabbed the little guy this one (perfect! just what I was looking for!) and Batman: Year One (figured I’d put it up on the shelf if it didn’t fly well) and then I’m going to get a few of the Batman and -girl 52 ones for myself. 
And I agree with whomever hates Superman’s look.
No, Earth-Prime is the real world…sort of. Once Superheroes started visiting (the Flash made several visits to DC offices, mostly meeting with Julie Schwartz)* and being born there (Ultraa, Superboy), it got a bit…weird, on that note. But it was supposed to be ours.
The current Earth-Prime may be the original, or one exactly like it, but it’s also our world, either way.
- There’s also a story where Cary Bates was transported to Earth-Two and became a villain, while Elliot S! Maggin went to Earth-One to try to find him. (Unfortunately, it’s a 2-parter, and I’ve only seen part 1, which was reprinted in DC Retroactive: JLA the 70s…)
Part of the confusion is that, except for that-idiot-Gerry-Conway*, everyone agreed that Earth-Prime was us. Here. Now. The Fenris who’s writing these words is on Earth-Prime. Julius Schwartz had a Cosmic Treadmill in his office that Barry Allen from Earth-1 built. etc. It involved a bit of suspension of disbelief and a nod and a wink, but it was fun.
That-Idiot-Gerry-Conway Could! Not! Get! That! Concept!. He (without using the terms, IIRC) kept defining us, right here as “Earth Real” and “Earth Prime” was someplace that looked just like us except for the fact that Julius Schwartz had been visited by The Flash and Cary Bates and Elliot S! Maggin had gone to Earth 1s and 2 (Bates twice)
The problem is that apparently That-Idiot-Gerry-Conway was bugged by Earth-Prime. Rather than just ignore it, he kept writing about it to “prove” it wasn’t us. He had the JLA go there once or twice, he had some native Earth-Prime hero (Ultraa :rolleyes:) emmigrate here, he had us have a totally different Cuban missile crisis, etc. IIRC, he wrote about Earth-Prime more than any other writer.
And all his changes to Earth-Prime (to distinguish it from “Earth Real” ) muddied the very elegant original concept.
Eventually, in DC Comics Presents, they introduced a Superboy. First, they ignored all the Gerry Conway crap except the concept that it wasn’t our Earth (it was eventually destroyed/merged into Earth-Post Crisis.) That Superboy was rocketed to Earth, but since Earth Prime was our earth, his powers didn’t work. Until the Crisis which messed up the laws of nature or something and he got his powers, was recruited by Superman Earth-1 and eventually went to “heaven” in the final issue of Crisis.
So…yes, Earth-Prime was our Earth but since That-Idiot-Gerry-Conway didn’t grasp the concept, there’s kinda 2 Earth-Primes. Ours and one that looks just like ours but was destroyed in the Crisis.
*Who’s wonderful with street-level solo books: his Daredevils and Spider-Men and Batmans are wonderful. And he wrote the worst Justice Leagues and Legions and FF and Avengers ever, IMO. His recent Animal Man mini wasn’t bad for a corporate directed concept (“We want you to write THIS story”) but good LORD let’s hope he never writes a team book or anything remotely cosmic ever again.
Thanks, Fenris. That explains a lot. Is that issue of DC Comics Presents in print today anywhere, either in TPB/Hardcover or digitally?
(Ok, that brings me another question, and I only ask here because you’re the resident SD comic book expert. “TPB” is short for “trade paperback,” which, obviously, means a paperback [in the “trade” format rather than mass-market]. Is there a term that comprises both TPBs and hardcover collections? Does “trade” cover both, or is it synonymous with TPB, since no one ever referred to a “trade hardcover”?)
I hope they come up with some way of handling this more neatly in the DCnU. I doubt they’ll just get rid of him completely, though that would be nice. (Not that I object to the character, just the convoluted backstory.) Is Gerry Conway universally hated and reviled for this crippling lack of getting-it-ness? If not, why not and why did the PTB let him get away with such a travesty anyway?
ETA: According to Wikipedia, it was Halley’s comet and not the impending Crisis that triggered his powers. WTF 
As far as I know, DC Presents #87(?) isn’t in print or collected anywhere. It’s really not a good story. I just dug it out:
Superman is having a tantrum (not mourning, a tantrum. Think Anikin’s “NOoooOOOoooo!” in Revenge of the Sith, but on the moon and about 50 little “Noos”! instead of one big one) about the death of Supergirl and aliens zap him to Earth Prime. On Earth Prime he meets Superboy Earth-Prime who’s powers have JUST NOW suddenly activated because of either Halley’s Comet(?*) or the fact that the Crisis is messing with the laws of physics. Superman and Superboy have a chat (and Superboy really is kind of a sociopath. He accept that Superman is real, he knows about Earth-1, Earth-Prime, etc (having read the comics) and when he hears that Supergirl just died and Superman is upset about it, he “jokes” “Really? Not a dream? Not a hoax? Not an imaginary story”? Remember–he’s got his powers now and he’s convinced that Superman is a real person. Tsk.
Anyway, Superman says that he’s going back to Earth-1 and that Superboy should use his powers well. Earth-Prime needs a hero. Superman flies off and JUST BY COINCIDENCE a huge tidal wave appears out of nowhere threatening all of Clark-Prime’s friends and his girlfriend. Clark-Prime doesn’t know how to stop the tidal wave when Superman returns and helps him. Turns out he can’t leave Earth-Prime (which is cannon–Earth Prime is notoriously hard to leave–that’s why Barry had to build a cosmic treadmill: to get the extra speed/control).
They get into a meaningless fight with some aliens who are hanging around, Superboy’s costume (it JUST HAPPENED to be Halloween and he JUST HAPPENED to choose a Superboy costume, you see) gets shredded and it’s established that red sunlight doesn’t fry Superboy’s powers like it does Superman-E1’s powers.
Superman and Superboy fly to Superboy’s house, blow his secret ID, reveal the multiverse to the cops, parents, friends, girlfriend and then fly off to stop the Crisis. Superman builds a transporter like the one that they use for JLA/JSA crossovers and they get back to E1. Superboy flies around the Daily Planet sign and then gets zapped by a vortex and disappears (only to end up in Crisis 12)
Plus there’s a backup story of Clark-Prime’s origin. Which is about what you’d expect. Except that Krypton’s sun is going to go nova (and…no-one on the science council can figure that out? Any amateur astronomer on earth could) instead of blowing up. And Jor El teleports l’il Kal to Earth. Obvious villian-to-be breaks into the El household and jumps in the teleporter, preventing Jor and Lara from using it. No resolution on the bad-guy. Artist screws up and/or apparently thinks that “sun going nova” means “planet falls into the sun, somehow” Kindly couple finds orphan “Let’s use my maiden name”. Kid grows up, is teased about the name, goes to halloween costume party dressed like superboy because girlfriend Laurie Lemmon wants to go as Lori Lemaris, mermaid, comet in the sky, Superboy begins to fly, story segues into main story.
Really, it’s just not very good.
PS–I don’t know if there’s a term. I’ve just called 'em hardcover collections.
The short synopsis is Clark Kent (Earth-Prime) has been teased all his because of his name/looks (because he looks like Curt Swan’s Clark Kent)
*You’re right, I misremembered about the comet. I still recall something about the Crisis doing it, but…he only appeared maybe one, two more times in Crisis itself before going off to heaven. Maybe it was a Retcon during Infinite Crisis? Johns might not have wanted to tie his powers into a 20-year-old, once a century event. Or, possibly, I’m on crack.
And Gerry Conway’s pretty well respected. He wrote some of the best Daredevil and Spider-Mans ever and his Batmans were damned good. I’d say that most Legion fans don’t really like his Legions, and no-one liked his Justice Leagues much (He gave us Justice League Detroit about halfway through his run)
The biggest problem is that Conway just Could! Not! Get! the multiple earths thing. He was one of the people complaining that having a few earths was just too confusing and pushed for the Crisis to get rid of them.
Keep in mind, that there were only 2 or 3 Earths that appeared with any sort of frequency in those days: there was the yearly Earth-1/Earth-2 crossover ("In summer, when the barriers are thinnest between the worlds’) and occasionally an Earth-S (Shazam) crossover. Earth-3 appeared maybe 5 times total from it’s first appearance, Earth-X was completely forgotten (they beat the Nazis. What’s left to tell?) and Prime appeared in 3 stories before Conway started using it. So, if you could tell Earth-1 from Earth-2 from Earth-S, (and they always spent a panel or two explaining the differences) there was no problem at all.
I think the Crisis was overall a good thing, it was well done, given that it was by committee and the writer was jerked around at every opportunity by management, but it simply was NOT needed to clear up confusion about the multiverse. I got it at age 8 or 9 and with only 6 alternate worlds total (that had appeared more than once) and with only 3 actually being used (maybe 4 if you count earth 3) it wasn’t that hard.
Wow, thanks again, Fenris! Again, that explains a lot. I was always a bit puzzled by the idea that the Crisis was needed because the multiverse was too confusing. I’m eternally in your debt.
I can’t speak for jackdavinci, but I just expected something more… interesting. DC’s pulling out all the stops to try to suck in new readers in an attempt to save what is increasingly looking like a dying industry… and this is what we get?
I thought Action, Batgirl, Batwing, Justice League, and Stormwatch were quite good, but most of the others ranged from bad (Hawk and Dove, OMAC) to utterly generic (JLI, Green Arrow). Reading through them I didn’t see what exactly was expected to make the stereotypical new reader say “I want more of this!”
Those are pretty much all the people who were writing for DC, although they dropped several who had been regular. Mostly, the women writers got dropped, IIRC. Liefeld is about the only stunt addition I can think of, and he’s not writing.
So, yeah, new-DC is has about the same strengths and weaknesses as old-DC. Plus Liefeld.
But the nature of the medium being what it is, even after a reset like this the continuity will become just as convoluted in a few years. Writers will keep adding back older “favorite” characters, and it will soon again be a muddled mess that is inpenetrable to new readers. Same thing happened last time DC tried this, with Crisis.
It is to be hoped that there won’t be any Hawkmanesque continuity boners, this time at least.
Morrison absolutely understands Superman, and his take in Action feels like it’s the real Superman. However, that in itself feels like a different character, because Superman’s character has strayed hither and yon over the past few years – stuff like the New Krypton arc and Stracynzski’s muddled mess really weren’t helping the character.
It’s only one issue so far, but I don’t recall writing this good on a Superman book since the “Up, Up, and Away” arc immediately after 52.
So making bad guys think he was going to kill them to get information out of him is classic Superman? That’s what felt like Batman to me. Actually, my first thought was that it felt like Smallville.
Don’t get me wrong, I liked Smallville. But I was always under the impression that their Clark was a completely different character than Superman.
The bit with him jumping off the building with the corrupt guy was a direct riff from a scene from Action 1. see here for one of the relevant two pages.
That said, it’s not (IMO) remotely the “classic” Superman–he was only that way for a year, two years at absolute most and very early in his career.
To me, the problem with that take is that Batman can get away with it because he doesn’t have super-powers…it makes it seem more like an even match. Superman came across as a bully* in that scene, both the Morrison version and the original. Morrison pulls it off because he’s Grant Morrison. But beating up wife-beaters and dropping corrupt politicians off buildings is overkill. There’s no threat to Supes, they can’t fight back, so what’s the fun?
The fun is the fact that Morrison actually has Superman using his powers (and, seemingly, enjoying doing so). One of the big failings of most poor Superman writers is that they don’t have him use his powers because he’s so powerful that the writer doesn’t consider it a meaningful challenge to Superman. Hence the frequent complaints about how “difficult” Superman is to write for.
That’s a failure of writer skill, says I. Instead of making flimsy excuses for why Superman doesn’t use his powers to solve problems (or, worse, entire issues of dialoguing/pontificating from Superman), Morrison is actually showing the result of “what happens if you have Superman’s powers with Clark Kent’s morals”. That’s interesting and fun.
Probably also doomed as Clark becomes more experienced in what he can and should do (setting himself above the law is fine when the law is corrupt; not so fine if the law is being upheld, fr’ex). But that’s probably Morrison’s story arc here, anyway.
Sorry to bump this…but…what happened to Justice League. It’s 3 weeks late as of Wednesday. Issue 1 came out in mid August with Flashpoint 5. We’re now at week 6 of the new 52 and it’s not due out this week.
It’s supposed to be their big flagship title. Anyone have any info?
It’s due out October 19th.
Also, as of WW #3 Wonder Woman has a father for the first time in her histories-Zeus.
Actually, second time she’s had a daddy. Around 1959 (issue 105 or so) Robert Kanhinger (which I can’t spell) gave Wonder Woman a new origin that involved the Amazon men (including Wonder Woman’s bio-daddy) being slaughtered so all the Amazon women sailed off (with Wonder Tot) to Paradise Island. The story was…not good. And quickly forgotten.
(Check out this panel: http://thanley.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/wwmen.jpg)
Thanks for the info on JLA. 
Damnit, Czarcasm, I’ve been avoiding that spoiler! Oh well, I knew it was inevitable I’d see it, and I’d pretty much figured that’s what it would be.
I’ve been meaning to come back and do more reviews, but I haven’t gotten around to it (health problems during week 2, for one thing.).
So far, Wonder Woman is one of my favorites. It has a real “American Gods” flavor to it, but I think it’ll have it’s own take on those tropes.
Green Lantern was one of the biggest disappointments. I’ve liked Geoff John’s run, but this was neither very new-reader friendly, (and I haven’t read War of the Green Lanterns yet, so I had no real idea what was going on with Sinestro getting a GL ring and … replacing Hal? How does that work?) nor very interesting. Stopping a “crime” that turns out to be a movie shoot is extremely cliché and not very believable. Making Sinestro the main GL as a (semi-) permanent change might have been interesting, but they pretty much showed that wasn’t in the cards right in the first issue, so nothing worth caring about.
Red Lanterns, OTOH, is my “guilty pleasure” favorite. Pure comic book goofiness and a potentially interesting story. Dex-Starr, “the angriest kitty in the universe” in issue one. Win!
Action Comics #2 was an excellent follow-up to #1, and Superman #1, though its gotten mixed reviews, was every bit as good IMO. Dense story telling that felt like a complete episode of a tv show, rather than just the pre-credits opener. And a complete story in one issue, that also set up the the rest of the series and made me want #2 right away. Gasp! Can theydo that in comics any more? Five stars.
Short Version
Krona was going to take over the Universe: he’ got one of each kind of ring, he’s got the Guardians possessed, he’s stolen Sinestro’s yellow ring, all the GLs (and maybe the other ring-weilders) are mind-controlled and Mogo’s been blown up.
A green ring chooses Sinestro for reasons not fully explained yet.
Hal, realizing there’s no other choice, kills Krona.
This frees everyone. “YAY!”, right? Wrong. The Guardians freak out. The rings are programmed to never, ever EVER let a ring-wielder kill a guardian. Hal’s will was strong enough to overcome that prohibition. Between that and working with the other Corps to try to stop Krona’s scheme The Guardians have a major hissy-fit and de-ring Hal and fire him, saying he’s the most dangerous GL ever!
It’s probably just me, but I miss the days when Guardians were infallable.