this issue totally rocked , robby !i hope , too , a return to multiple earths where i grew up reading about heroes being true heroes , not this grim and realistic comics that we have today .
then we could get a yearly jla / jsa team-up again , whoo -hoo !
i ended up liking this issue in spite of myself, i thought most of the art and the stuff tying into the leadup miniseries was pretty ugly and boring but the old school stuff was admittedly pretty ace. have you read mike allred's issue of solo? i don't read a lot of superhero comics anymore but it was totally charming good clean fun, one of my favorite things i've read in a while.
The Golden, Silver and Bronze Ages are part of the past.
I'm 33 years old and I'd like to keep buying my music on vinyl or for all cell phones to suddenly dissapear from the face of the Earth, but time waits for no one.
Just like you, I think the comics I read when I was a kid (and the music that played on the radio, the movies I went to see, etc.) were far better than the current ones.
Isn't it possible that we've got a severe nostalgia attack?
And anyway, the lighter aproach doesn't go well with a character like Batman, though he doesn't have to be a complete paranoid ass either.
Please excuse me if my English is rusty. I'm Spanish.
Got yourself a hell of a blog, by the way.
Well, I hope there are some writers stuck in a pocket dimension somewhere that can write the sort of "fun" stories that Kal-L wants to bring back!
To me, the original Superman looks more like Sean Penn than Tony Danza.
I agree with a lot of the sentiments
regarding the original Superman and his observations and goal. But...
The rest of the IC characters seem to be concerned about an evil force that will lead to the destruction of the universe. We're two issues into this series, and there's no Anti-Monitor to be found.
Meanwhile the original Superman wants
the return of the "right earth".
Noble sentiment.
Of course, in Zero Hour, Parallax just wanted to change time in order to save a city. And we see how far that noble sentiment got him.
What if IC turns out to be the entire
current DC Universe against the original Superman? Who would you root for?
--Ed
Obviously DC can't "return" to the Silver Age. We don't need a dozen varieties of kryptonite and "Holy strawberries, Batman, we're in a jam!". We just need the heroes to smile again. We just need truth and justice to win out again. I'm crossing my fingers (making it very hard to keyboard here) that DC has a clearly delineated new story policy ready for its writers. I am being pummeled by two pillowcases full of Pessimism and Cynicism that this won't happen, but I'm fighting back.
All that is good and well, but...
In WHICH universe has Wonder Woman turned into the hag we see in the final panel?
je
ALL the women in this book look like hags. The art is awful -- except for the Perez/Ordway parts, as Robby said. Some of the better women's faces seem to look better because they have been re-drawn by someone!
Have you noticed how Power Girl looks kind of like Martha Stewart throughout the book? Maybe the series will end with her sitting at a desk with a long line of superheroes that she tells, "I'm sorry, but you don't fit it."
Robby, as much as you and I might sympathize with Golden-Age Superman's desire to bring back Earth 2 to replace the current, unpleasant DCU, I'm really not sure what DC editorial is up to here--or where their sympathies lie. Kal-L's comments either inspire hope or portend a kind of nostalgic disaster, depending on your viewpoint. Some suspect Kal-L is being set up as the villain of Infinite Crisis, or perhaps the stooge of the real villain (Earth 3 Luthor?).
My current guess, based on a comment Geoff Johns made to a question I asked him at Newsarma*--and on the widely publicized difference of opinion over editorial direction embodied by Waid and Morrison on one side, Rucka and Winick on the other--is that we'll be left at the end with an Earth Happy and an Earth Grim--and that instead of vacilating between the two extremes every few years, DC will try to offer both flavors simultaneously.
Here's what I asked Geoff, and how he responded:
*Q:...I've noticed that the tone of a number of DC's flagship titles has seemed somehow off for quite a while – Batman is way too unpleasant, Superman is often too indecisive and whiny. I know DC has said IC won't junk continuity, but does IC exist to readjust the "feel" of the DCU in the same way CoIE adjusted its "reality"?
GJ: Wow. You are so much closer to something than you know…who are you?
As a fan of the Silver Age multiple earths, I felt that Crisis on Infinite Earths was perhaps the biggest editorial mistake in comics ever. On the other hand, I like many of the modern books, though I'd wholeheartedly disagree that they are "realistic". There's just a slightly darker tone.
I have no clue where this is going. The mini-series that came before it were mostly house-keeping in my opinion. Still, this issue made me feel happier about the DC universe since Grant Morrison's run on Animal Man!
Yeah, the multiverse was cool.
Erth-Two Batman was my favourite, as we saw the character age and evolve in ways that he obviously couldn't in the "mainstream" Earth-One.
As for D.C.'s plans... who knows?
Being one who thought Wonder Woman killing was a really stupid mistake, so far I'm having a blast with Infinite Crisis.
We'll see...
Here's one old-school reader -- I'm about to turn 44, and have been reading superhero comics since, well, since Robby was first appearing in them -- who applauds any effort to move the tone of comics in a less pessimistic direction.
No, that doesn't mean resurrecting the camp of the '60s Batman or the over-the-top excesses of early Marvelmania. But it would be nice to see serious, compelling superhero stories that don't make me feel like taking a shower afterward.
I agree with Robby about the art in IC #2, but I'll suffer with a bit of ugly art if it helps propel us all into a somewhat sunnier DCU.
I've always taken those peyote panels in Animal Man as referring to the later Psycho Pirate story in issues 23-24, the Crisis 2 storyline.
Worlds coming out of his (PP's) head, the little UFOs for the aliens who gave Buddy his powers, etc. It's still cool, and it's GREAT that IC's involving the character (as long as they don't kill him!) but it's a real stretch to say that those peyote clues refer to IC.
(I'm pretty sure the history lesson pages are Ordway penciling and Perez inking, but I haven't seen confirmation of that anywhere yet.)
It's WONDERFUL to read about your enthusiasm for where IC appears to be going, I feel the same way. If you're spoiler adverse, DON'T read the Paul Levitz interview on Newsarama today, beans are totally, totally spilled.
I don't want the E-2 Superman to be the villain of the piece, but that sure looks like what is being set up.
Alexi Luthor doesn't appear to be on the up and up either. Maybe he is duping Kal-L as a previous commenter...commented.
I liked the story. My hopes are high...and my fingers are crossed that I don't end up disappointed.
How about the Joker being left out of the Society? He is pissed off. Leaving the DCU's #1 psychopath out of the party...shame, shame, shame, this could come back to bite them.
Put that together with the turning on Black Adam part and this has potential.
Maybe the Joker and/or Black Adam will end up with the Secret Six since the Parademon died. He was dead, wasn't he? Parademon's don't have a healing factor, do they?
Hell, its comics...anything's possible.
And that's just the way I like it.
puff
Actually, I was a little disturbed by the last panel. I don't want to see the "right" Earth return, I want to see _all_ (or at least several) of them return. It read to me like Supes is thinking about replacement, and that sounds like a nasty story. (If we must pick only one, I'll take Earth-2, mind you...)
Ideally, all other earths would be "folded" into Earth-Two. Or the multiverse will return. Either way I'd be happy.
But Superman as the new Parallax? Sorry, I can't believe DC would try that trick twice, and in the process, defame the first Superhero, Superman. I remain hopeful.
It's because of 9-11 and the Iraqi War that we need dimensions of entertainment to take us away from the 'dark' times of reality, as the silver age did during the Viet Nam War, along with the internal conflicts that we had in America in the 60's.
I, for one, will be very happy if DC turns back the clock, to say, the 1970's, when we had simple, yet compelling stories in the DCU. There was no "Holy-this, Batman", instead we had great mysteries that involved villains and the supernatural in Batman, instead of mass murders and rape!
Why must every story be an earth-shattering, complicated miasma with multi-characters and a dozen different storylines going on simultaneously?
I am glad some people see the actual point of the Golden Age Superman in this story without rose colored glasses. He wants to end the depressing era of superheroes...
by becoming the sort of universe destroying meglomaniac that would make Parallax blush.
John's just went up 100% in my irony book!
I think we are all missing an important point. Namely we are discussing this and taking it seriously! When was the last time you actually CARED about what happened in the the DC Universe?? Give them credit, they have us all talking and, the book is SELLING huge too!! Superman will fight Superman for the right to exist. This is great stuff!!!
I didnt like IC2 as much because not much happened...even in COIF when not much happened it felt like something was happening.
Does that make sense?
And I dont understand this back to joy idea? If all it means is bringing back the multiverse - I dont know how to take that...if it means stories like Identity Crisis, Watchmen and Dark Knight won't have a place in the new DC because they are too dark.. I dont know if I like that either.
I dont actually know if I even liked the idea of making only 1 earth in COIF but I do know that I loved how it was executed and that to me the point of the story was to show off all of the amazing DC characters in a real threat to their universe.
I dont know how this is going to end but one thing I know is i hate the art and I know I dont want the Silver Age back - so I'm guessing its something in the middle.
E2 Superman's primary motivation is to save Lois. It wasn't until Alex whispered to him 'We can save her too' or somesuch that he actually acted.
By the end of this he or Lois, or both, will be dead.
This got me back into an actual comic shop after literal years so that's a good thing, and I'm liking it so far despite the uneven artwork.
I'm enjoying the talk radio-style punditry in this thread far more than the idle speculation about where the miniseries is headed.
I'm pretty sure that makes me a jackass.
Without the context that bred the comment, I now appear foolish! I ask all readers to please trust that I am indeed a jackass.
Regarding his nose: old people do tend to have bigger/broader/thicker noses, unless they've been trimmed down by a surgeon.
Sorry, but Kal-L and Danza looked nothing alike. Similar, only in that their noses were large. But as the poster above stated, noses (and anything containing cartilege) never stops growing. So it's only natural that a man whose hair is grayer would have a nose that's larger.
The art in IC#2 is just fine.
After the dreadful "Image" era, followed by the even-worse "manga" era, I'm just happy that DC (and Marvel) are trying to provide art done the "right" way.
Ordway would have been MY choice, but I haven't the foggiest idea where he is these days.
As for IC#2's story, I'm loving it. And Superman has a point.
COIE put everything on Earth-Prime, which is the jaded, corrupt world that is only getting darker by the era (mostly because we simply know more about what goes on). DC's superheroes, however, were from a brighter world where no hero would ever choose killing bad guys. Nor were the villains particularly as nasty as they are today.
I love a previous poster's comparison to Parallax. This is indeed the same thing. Superman is intending to "play God" and reorder the universe according to his own vision.
But in the end, I have to say I hope Superman fails. Because for the first time in 20 years, I'm actually EXCITED about rushing to the comic shop. If DC brings all this moral quandry to an end, and returns their books back to the simplistic Golden/Silver age, then I'll be disinterested once again.
There's a reason DC's sales on IC books are high. And it's not because fans are TRULY "tired" of all this "darkness." In fact, their own dollars betray them.
I look forward to funner storyline full of intrigue & mystery along with fun and fantasy. Also hoping not to see 12 part stories spanning over 4 titles to create 1 big letdown.
If you really think this is going lighten the tone of Dc your going to REALLY BE disapointed...
1. You dont "lighten" anything with a story where the world's greatest superhero wants to blow the univese. That's like saying "Sorry we made everything so Dark. Here's the DARKEST STORY EVER to cheer you up.
2. There may well be some nonsense about "which one is the 'true universe" But DC is NOT bringing back the unverse that they got rid of years ago.
3. I can't get into series at all becuse they seem to want me to totally forget that this is ficton. No one made them turn thier universe into a toilet and I wont pay to watch them flush
Something I haven't heard anyone mention anywhere: the Superman of near infinite power who ruled the roost from oh, 1963-1979, the one who mourned the loss of Supergirl, the one who met up with Kal-L in JLA/JSA crossovers. We've got Golden Age (sorta), then something like Byrne/Birthright. But all the other continuing heroes from silver age have passed through with relative continuity.
I agree -- being a Silver-Age Fanboy, I would love it if the SILVER AGE Superman would show up and use his super-breath to blow all the grim-n-gritty stuff into the Phantom Zone!
And I wonder how many of today's "talented" writers could write a self-contained story in 8 pages, huh? Including a half-page flashback to the last silly change in someone's backstory?
Curt Swan Forever!
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