World of Flashpoint #2, kinda starring Traci 13

[paultmd]

I try not to post the last page of books, but this time I can't resist. We'll get there, though.

World of Flashpoint is ostensibly a Traci 13 story, but really it's just an excuse to show characters that don't get their own Flashpoint story so you can see what they're doing in this don't-call-it-an-Elseworld.



Doctor Thirteen, upset over the loss of his wife and sons, is planning on using a satellite weapon to destroy New Themyscira, then Atlantis. Traci wants to stop him. She goes to Madame Xanadu for help, only to find she's dying, but she grants Traci her Tarot cards to help guide her on her quest, which Xanadu tells her is to find why the world is worth saving and show that to her father.

First stop is Tokyo, which is guarded by a legion of Red Tornadoes. Traci meets up with an unfinished, different-looking Reddy.



She travels to Brazil and finds Nat Irons fighting Nazis. Then she travels to Namibia and gets captured by one of Grodd's gorillas.



Gar viciously turns on the gorilla and frees the captives, letting Traci escape. She winds up in Queensland, Australia, in a bar.



From there she winds up in Antarctica freeing Circe. She found out about the plot of treason against Diana and tried to warn her, but was found out and imprisoned. As none of her people came to save her afterwards, now she just wants to see the war unfold and destroy them all.

I'm not going to spoil who she runs into in Gotham or what the character is doing with their life in this universe. I'll just say that it's a male character that tends to get a bit of reaction in this community and mentions that in this reality, he was mixed in with Brother Blood's cult before getting to where he is now.

From there it's back to HIVE headquarters to face her dad, Doctor Thirteen, who she describes in her interior monologue as "the most infamous hater of magic" even in the world of Flashpoint.

Comments

[mullon]

Harry Potter has gone off the deep end.

[shadowpsykie]

i can't unsee that now...

[nemryn]

No, Timothy Hunter has gone off the deep end.

[blackruzsa]

Timothy Hunter has always been off the deep end.

[pepperspray101]

DAMNIT, I CAN'T UNSEE IT! (actually, he looks more like James Potter to me)

[nightauditguy]

male character that tends to get a bit of reaction in this community

Doctor Light?

[paultmd]

I aint sayin. Nor am I saying whether it's positive or negative reaction. Just saying when this character shows up, I tend to see a little less apathy, from my perspective. I will say that he gets used a bit more than Doctor Light.

[sailorlibra]

Guy Gardner is a Buddhist? That's kind of awesome.

[biod]

"I shall back up my disbelief in deities with compassion and understanding discourse!"

[starwolf_oakley]

It stands to reason Guy never was comatose and brain damaged in this world, explaining why he would turn to Buddhism.

[perletwo]

It is Albert Rosenfield levels of awesome, really.

[whitesycamore]

"Oh, I've got compassion running out of my nose, pal! I'm the Sultan of Sentiment!"

I love Albert. Even though he is lacking in some of the social niceties.

[tharn]

I am so not sure how a male gorilla intends to nourish bones by suckling them...

[biod]

Milk and electrolysis.

[philippos42]

I noticed that too. Let's remember that English is not Grodd's first language.

...

Also, the editor probably doesn't know any better.

[jlbarnett]

How are the sales for the crossovers this year? Because if my local comic shop is any indication they aren't exactly flying off the shelves.

[paultmd]

Fear Itself topped the charts in April and May, with Flashpoint coming in second in May. The tie-ins look to be selling significantly less, but I've not put the time in to compare all the ongoing series tie-in issues to their previous issue sales. One would assume they're at least raised a bit.

[wizardru]

They are doing poorly. Bad economy, a glut of titles and lack of fan interest (likely due to fatigue) have resulted in mediocre sales.

Comparison:

Infinite Crisis #1: 249,107 [October 2005]
Civil War #1: 290,762 [July 2006]
Secret Invasion: 250,213 [April 2008]
Final Crisis #1: 144,000 [May 2008]
Blackest Night #1: 176,987 [July 2009]
Captain America Reborn #1: 193,014 [July 2009]
Siege #1: 108,484 [Jan 2010]
Brightest Day #1: 103,326 [May 2010]

Fear Itself #1: 128,595 [April 2011]
Flashpoint #1: 86.981 [May 2011]
Fear Itself #2: 96,000 [May 2011]


In short we can see two things: comics numbers overall are dropping, Marvel generally wins when two events are running by a small margin, 'event' titles have played out so much that now they don't even lead the months they come out.

Brightest Day, for example, debuted at the fourth position the month it came out, two ranks behind the first issue of Morrison's 'Batman and Robin'.

Fear Itself was May's best selling issue...and it didn't break six figure sales. Flashpoint debuted at number two with 86K. To put those in context, five years ago that would have put them at positions 14 and 16 on the charts, not 1 and 2.

[jlbarnett]

Fatigue doesn;t have to be the only reason fans aren't interested. These storylines just don't seem that interesting to me.

[halloweenjack]

That scene with White Reddy is kind of heartbreaking, in a "Mommy has fallen asleep and won't wake up" kind of way.

[endis_ni]

Oh good, that wasn't just me. I was picturing the equivalent of that bit in the Lion King where Simba nudges Mufasa hopefully and it's just not going to work...

[thanekos]

Well, Ivo got something like that in another continuity. Suppose Morrow had to.

[perletwo]

Traci is looking mighty good here, in a brunette Veronica Mars kind of way. Particularly given that she's one of those characters, like Steph Brown's mom and Carlie Cooper, that the artists can't quite get a consensus on what she looks like from one appearance to the next.

[ladytimedramon]

Could someone tell me what context Gar is in this issue?

I find it interesting that Grodd calls Gar "Changeling"....

[paultmd]

That's his first of two pages. We get that, then we get him turning on the gorilla(not Grodd). No more context than that. We're just left to assume he was enslaved by the gorillas at some point and is somewhat feral.

This book was really just a tour of the world to give us a couple pages each with some characters that wouldn't otherwise be shown.

[ladytimedramon]

Hmm... I guess that could tie back to his incident with a gorilla army in his childhood (from his origin stories in the original Doom Patrol) - except instead of escaping and leading the gorillas he's captured and brainwashed.

I have the scans at my website, if anyone is interested.

[werehawk]

I would like to see the other page of Gar when a few weeks have passed and 8 pages can be posted.

[big_daddy_d]

Those magic symbols do look pretty awesome.

[benicio127]

I didn't pick this up, but I heard Jason is a priest ^-^

shhh!

[pepperspray101]

I'm picking it up JUST for that. :D

[proteus_lives]

The Reddy part is sad but totally cribbed from Darkstalkers.

[auggie18]

I kinda want to pick this up now. Damn it...

[pyrotwilight]

Well, guess Morrow never got around to making the other Red's or whites here I suppose and Tomorrow Woman. Aw drat.

[endis_ni]

Wait, no Tommy? Dammit!

[pyrotwilight]

Well, I guess we could argue she was built only by Ivo in this verse but I'm not exactly holding out for her to show up as awesome as that'd be.

[eyz]

Doctor Thirteen?? The guy who never would believe in magic (magical things, etc..) even when you'd throw him amongst talking gorillas nazi, vampires, ghosts, french cavemen, etc..?
This Doctor Thirteen?

How, wait, I forgot... "Flashpoint" and all. Okay, good enough. Carry on.

[pyrotwilight]

Well in this verse he was not only married to his sorceress wife but raised his kids alongside her so saying magic didn't exist would've had to been softened up eventually even to him I suppose.

(Not sure if we've ever gotten any info about Traci's mom that even rivals the fact we learn her name here, that's how little it's brought up in continuity)