Earth 2 #2 Cover: We See Jay Garrick's Costume

[aeka]

James Robinson actually gave an interview on Newsarama that sheds more details on Earth-2, and sadly the more I read about this new Earth-2, the less interested I am. Out of the entire interview, this was the only bit I found interesting:

Nrama: The description we saw of Batman talks about him choosing to kill to save his own daughter. And his daughter is Helena Wayne, the Earth 2 Robin, correct?

Robinson: Yes.

Nrama: Yes. But it hasn't been revealed that Batman is Bruce Wayne under the mask — only that he's a Wayne. Assuming you can't reveal who's under the mask, what are this character's motivations for being Batman? Is it the same as the Batman we know?

Robinson: At this point, that isn't explored. His origins are much more mysterious. But he has put his web of intelligence and crime-fighting abilities out throughout this world, so he's very much his own version of the Batman on [the main DCU Earth]. The big difference is that he has a daughter he's trained to be Robin and to pass on all of his skills and talents to her. And of course, we'll get to enjoy that with the able talents of Paul Levitz [in May's World's Finest].

It's starting to seem more and more unlikely that there was ever a Dick Grayson on Earth-2, but if there's an Earth-2 version of Batman, Inc. that should prove very interesting. Sadly though, it looks like I'll only be getting the first issue of Earth-2 just for the sexy androgynous Helena Wayne Robin. After that, I'll just stick to Worlds' Finest and hopefully we'll get to see more of Earth-2 Bruce and Selina on that book. I especially want to know what Earth-2 Selina's costume looks like for Helena to incorporate the purple onto her Huntress costume, or even the cross.

Robinson: Yeah, I wish I could speak with candor. But in this instance, it's a bit of a knife walk, I have to say. Unfortunately, for everything that I don't say, there are a million theories and concepts, and people get angry because they don't know what's going on. This is a very tricky book to promote.

Of course people are going to get angry if DC refuses to tell us what we're spending our money on, and on top of that DC continues pulling rugs from under us. How exactly is this smart marketing? It didn't work for the Huntress mini when people thought she was Helena Bertinelli, it sure as hell isn't going to work now.

Maybe I expected too much or was being too optimisitic.

Comments

[shadowpsykie]

i don't mind the costume... except the johnny quick helmet... WTF?

i'm taking the wait and see approach. i'll definately be getting at least the first issue.

from a creative stand point i see why they are being so secretive.... but at the same time.. yeah the investors (us) have a right to know what we are getting into before we spend our money on it...

[big_daddy_d]

i don't mind the costume... except the johnny quick helmet... WTF?

My thought exactly.

[shadowpsykie]

yeah whne i saw it i was like, oh that's interest-ACK!

[darkknightjrk]

I like that idea for Batman's identity--kinda reminds me a bit of The Shadow with his secret web of colleagues and not even the audience knows who the Shadow REALLY is.

I also dig that Flash costume--it keeps a lot of the components of the original while making it feel modern. Also, Jay having to fight mutated killer sewer rats sounds like twisted fun. :D

[abriel]

Yeah, definitely skipping Earth 2. Sorry, this is just...no. That costume is hideous.

[inwitariturelie]

...costume...what...brain can't compute.
OK, I have defended your new costumes DC but you're making it really really hard for me to do so.

[arbre_rieur]

"Of course people are going to get angry if DC refuses to tell us what we're spending our money on..."

Between the Trinity and Worlds' Finest promos, you don't think there's enough here for a person to gauge whether or not they'd be interested in trying the first issue?

[tpsreports]

Here's what I don't understand, why call this Earth-2 since it's most definitely not Earth-2. Why not call it Earth-77b other than to cash-in on the fans of the real Earth-2.

[arbre_rieur]

Same reason Earth-2 was the evil mirror universe in the post-Zero Hour, pre-Infinite Crisis period. 'Cause if your books only use two Earths, then calling the second one anything other than Earth-2 is just unnecessary confusion.

[filthysize]

Bingo. Seems pretty straight-forward to me. It's not like it's reusing a unique name like Earth Heyassbutt or something. It's Earth-2 because it's a second Earth. If it draws fans of the previous Earth-2, then hey, bonus.

[fredneil.livejournal.com]

I get the feeling it's more likely to alienate fans of the previous Earth-2. That's what makes it not so straightforward. "Earth-2" has a specific meaning in the DC universe. It has associations that have been around for decades.

[arbre_rieur]

I dunno. How many people were alienated when this came out:

http://www.amazon.com/JLA-Earth-2-Grant-Morrison/dp/1563896311

Right there on the cover, but there were hardly any complaints.

[fredneil.livejournal.com]

There were some. Look at the second review on the page. That's exactly what I'm suggesting; a fan of the Earth 2 concept being turned off by the approach and this has two advantages over the new book; it's a graphic novel, not something being put forward as the new status quo, and it's written by Grant Morrison.

[arbre_rieur]

Well, yeah, I didn't say there weren't any complaints. There will always be some, for any and every single creative decision. The number of people at the time who felt alienated by a newcomer claiming the abandoned Earth-2 title wasn't significant, is what I'm saying. Even the guy in the Amazon comments page isn't complaining that it's not like the old Earth-2. Rather, he's unhappy that it's not like the old Earth-3, which Morrison's antimatter universe was based on.

[arbre_rieur]

"Rather, he's unhappy that it's not like the old Earth-3, which Morrison's antimatter universe was based on."

By which I mean, it's not really about the name of the Earth for that guy. One gets the impression, that even if they named it Earth-Alpha or whatever, he'd still have the same complaint.

[tpsreports]

Then why not earth B? Besides, this place kinda feels like a "B", y'know?

[arbre_rieur]

Then why not earth B?

'Cause it makes them an easily punchline for jokes like:

this place kinda feels like a "B", y'know?

;)

[aeka]

Right? Hell, not even fans of the real Earth-2 are considering buying this shit, not even me at this point. All of this news is telling me James Robinson and/or editorial got the concept of Earth-2 completely wrong. They completely stripped Earth-2 of ALL the things that made it special in the first place, and completely shat on the continuity's rich history all together.

If the original pre-Crisis Earth-2 fans were already thinking of dropping this book as soon as Helena Bertinelli was revealed as Helena Wayne in the reboot (because--quite simply put--she isn't the Helena Wayne they grew up with), I imagine all this recent news will be the real deal breaker for those fans. What a completely wasted opportunity. :/

[mrstatham]

I just can't believe they're putting Nicola Scott on a book that most casual fans would probably consider not important because it doesn't feature the main versions of the characters. She should be doing something like Catwoman or even Batgirl, since she's pretty blatantly Gail Simone's best collaborator. Anything other than a book I think even I would look at and consider peripheral.

And again, as you say, it's not even the genuine Earth-2.

[karunya]

Damned alien badgers. :p

[atom_punk]

Forget the badgers, it's the beavers disguised as otters disguised as badgers that will kill you. D:

[sherkahn]

Looks like Garrick went early 70's sentai...

[biod]

Thank you for summing up the thoughts I didn't even know I had.

[liara_shadowsong]

...And here I thought my thoughts on this costume wouldn't get voiced, because I couldn't find the right words to express them adequately. Spot on!

[icon_uk]

I'm guessing the Pied Piper on Earth-2 isn't nearly as much fun as the pre-DCnU one was....

Also, not a huge fan of the helmet, which I assume is some sort of variation on a cyclists helmet.

[cyberxigbar]

Huh. If I didn't know that this was going to be even more unnecessarily grim than the Earth-1 DC stuff, I'd probably let my nephew read this. Jay Garrick looks every bit as silly as the Power Rangers/Beetle Borgs, whom I have a soft spot for.

[terabient]

That costume is pretty bad, but then, most of the DCnU costumes are bad. So I guess it's fitting?

Also, the interviews/previews for Earth 2 really seem to boil down to "It's like the main DCU, but different!" which is kind of funny. But not exactly compelling. If I liked what the DCnU was doing I would be buying more than 3 books a month.

And this made me giggle:

DC and its writers have a tough time figuring out what to call the main DCU Earth. Robinson originally used terms like "Earth One" and "Earth Prime," but Newsarama inquired with DC editorial and was told that Robinson should have used "main DCU Earth." This is the second time a DC writer accidentally used the wrong name for the main DCU Earth in an interview with Newsarama.

[aeka]

On the note of what to call the main DCU Earth: Earth-0 works fine. Less words, easier to remember, and most importantly, doesn't confuse the reader with Earth-1 which is its own universe.

[jlbarnett]

that is terrible and there is only one reason for Batman to become Batman.

[jlbarnett]

DC is trying to create 90's nostalgia in the comic industry aren't they?

[espanolbot]

Ah, I already have that.

I mean, I started reading comics in the late 1990s, and despite Liefeld and his ilk casting a shadow over the entire decade (when he really was only a major thing for the first half or so) there were a ton of good stuff being published.

Like Starman, Chase, Sandman, Chuck Dixon's Robin, No Man's Land, Greg Rucka's Batman, Batman Adventures etc. etc.

[wizardru]

I once did a list to counter the belief that the 90s were some wasteland of comics consisting merely of pouches and characters with no feet. It was a pretty impressive list, all told.

When you have stuff like Robinson's Starman, Gaiman's Sandman, Busiek's Astro City and Mignola's Hellboy (just to name a few)...the 1990s did just fine.

[jlbarnett]

when most people talk nostalgia they're generally talking the stereotypes, most commonly known things. Comic fans think 90's they think the Image guys, foil covers things like that.

[catbird]

I don't really care if they change Superman's costume or anyone else's into something lame, but Jay Garrick? That feels like disrespecting the elderly, and the DC's most respectable senior citizen at that :( The *point* of Jay Garrick is not that he looks hip and cool, okay?

[thormonger]

I'll be checking out Earth 2, but it's increasingly feeling like I'll be gawking at a train wreck and trying to make sense of it all. I really hope I'm wrong.

[amaniwolf]

Oh...that's just sad, so sad.

[liara_shadowsong]

Bwuh? I don't like the design. Kamen Rider reject much? Art seems pretty decent, though.

[ap0cryphal]

Right, so I'm legit confused. Are there two James Robinsons? Is the Shade and Starman guy not the same person as the JUSTICE!!!1111 and this Earth-2 horsebollocks guy?

[espanolbot]

Considering his love of the history of the DCU that he displayed in Starman and JSA: the Golden Age, I have to presume that at least some of the Earth Two stuff was people telling him what to write instead of letting him do his own thing, like in Shade.

Cry for Justice particularly seemed to have a taste of "someone standing over his shoulder and telling him what to write" about it, like Countdown. The people who made Countdown were all mostly good writers in their own right (some more than others) but the editors' decision to micromanage the whole deal has a really negative effect on storytelling.

[benuben]

Is Jay Garrick of this universe amalgam between Flash and Hank Pym?

[eyz]

NOOoooo!! What did they do to you, Jay??
Originally, one of my all time favorite simplest Golden Age mystery men designs...and now...this Wildstorm reject????

When's the DCU reverting back to normal, again? in September, right? Right? I mean, they called this "arc" the New 52...it means its gonna only last a year like the previous 52...right?.... *cries in a corner*

[amaniwolf]

I'll be in the corner with you.....much hate for this.

[darrylayo]

I don't care. It looks good on its own terms. I no longer care about DC's extreme-ization of their classic characters. It's fine for what it is, in my book. If the interior art is competent, I might check it out.

[weber_dubois22]

I'm beginning to think the comic book industry should hire fashion designers when they come up with new costumes.

[jlroberson]

Well, that's pretty forgettable. Anyway.

[darrylayo]

A red field, a blue field and a yellow lightning bolt. It's fine. I am baffled by the response.

The only clutter is the illustration, not the costume design itself.

[gerardotejada]

Robinson The Shade has been AWSOME PERFECT SPECTACULAR, easy the best thing he has done since Staman.

But this could became another "justice league", remember DC has been messing with Robinson´s plots since New Krypton. This could be a poisoned fruit.