Jean Loring in 52

[xdoop.insanejournal.com]

This is from 52 Week Twenty-Seven. It's written by Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, and Mark Waid; the breakdowns are by Keith Giffen and the pencils by Shawn Moll. The cover is by J.G. Jones.


Ralph Dibny is traveling with the helm of Doctor Fate (really Felix Faust in disguise) trying to find a way to bring back Sue. In this issue he asks the Spectre if he can bring her back to him; the Spectre grins and replies "Absolutely."







In the 52 trade paperback one of the writers said that this was correcting a continuity error from Identity Crisis #1; when Sue is waiting for Ralph she hears a sound coming from inside the house. You're meant to think it's the killer, except Jean traveled to the Dibnys' home via the phone lines.

Comments

[freezer818.insanejournal.com]

That is some serious Spectredickery.

[yaseen101.insanejournal.com]

Um, hello? It's Geoff Johns, how can you not expect Dickery like this?

[xdoop.insanejournal.com]

The Spectre's been a dick before.

[kingrockwell]

Mostly Mark Waid, actually.

[jlroberson.insanejournal.com]

Frankly? This is what Jean deserved. All I have to see is Sue making sure Ralph's present is just so to think that. Actually though, it never had to happen at all.

God damn you, Meltzer.

That said: okay, I almost kind of understand how the Atom goes through phone LINES. But what about a cordless?

Which is what Sue's picking up.

[404glitch.insanejournal.com]

SBP Punch.

We can still use that, right?

[thokstar.insanejournal.com]

There's still a signal traveling to the phone even if it's cordless, and Jean can still ride that. She just hitches a right on the appropriate electro-magnetic wave.

(Yes, anybody with any knowledge of QM will see the multiple flaws in that. I don't care.)

[statham1986.insanejournal.com]

Sure, this is what Jean deserves, I agree.

The argument (not really an argument, more a statement), is whether she, Sue, or Ralph had to go through any of that bullshit. Seriously. I love some of DC's decisions over the past years, but if there's one thing I could have wripped out and cast into the retcon pile, it's Identity Crisis.

Someone mentioned 'happy' comics, to me, the other day, when I post the DV8 reveal, and as stupid as it sounds, when Meltzer was establishing just how great Ralph and Sue's relationship was, I loved it, because I'd never heard of the characters before and just loved how perfect their relationship seemed. Then I immediately wanted to rip his skull off for that putrid page with Ralph holding Sue's charred body. I could seriously do with just the implication, there. I would love just a series about Ralph and Sue, though.

[cowtasticism.insanejournal.com]

I didn't like Identity Crisis but I thought it was great how Meltzer made the reader love Ralph and Sue before killing her. Maybe I'm crazy, but I find it much more enjoyable to rad about the death of characters I know and like than a character I do not really care about.

[jlbarnett.insanejournal.com]

they did a real good job of making this very intense. I didn't know these characters really, but I felt what was going on there.

[taggerung301.insanejournal.com]

same here

[ladymirth.insanejournal.com]

...WOAH! That's intense!

I wonder what would happen if the same thing could be done to the Joker?

[blake_reitz.insanejournal.com]

There was an issue of JLA, I think, where they went deep into the Joker's twisted psyche and found a not-crazy guy living there, among all the chaos. So, maybe? I get the feeling thought it would end up with a Spectre-powered Joker, ala Emperor Joker.

[yaseen101.insanejournal.com]

Why didn't he just keep her sane when he came back? Under the hands of a good writers, a Jean Loring redemption arc would have been great and would have created possibilities for a 'The Atom' spin-off title, it would have been cool to see what really drove Jean over the edge, having her try to return to normal life, making amends with Ralph, repairing her relationship with Ray and keeping villains from influencing her. It would have been much better than turning her into a one note villain.

[statham1986.insanejournal.com]

Because DC's awfully black and white in this respect. 'Jean's evil, now she's going to be punished'. That's it. Redemption, unless you're Hal Jordan, is a big fat dirty word, at DC.

I don't think there would be any redemption possible for her, really, at least with the current state of DC. If she did turn 'good' again, it would most likely be elaborate setup for screwing her friends over again.

The worst part is how it seems to have affected characters around her, like Ray, who, in the first issue of Robinson's long-awaited Cry for Justice, resorted to the fucking ridiculous method of extracting information from a criminal by using the same idea Jean used to kill his wife. That was a real WTF moment for me, and somehow, I can't really consider Ray a hero, anymore.

[starwolf_oakley.insanejournal.com]

This establishes that, yes, Jean *did* intend to kill Sue.

It doesn't explain *why* she went homicidal, though. Meltzer's "Womens is crazy!" explanation is my prime complaint regarding IC. And no one has attempted a more nuanced explanation.

My other IC complaints: How Wally and Kyle were treated by the other characters. The JLA acted like Wally had become the Flash just last week. Kyle was someone the JLA were stuck with due to their bad luck he got a power ring.

[jlbarnett.insanejournal.com]

maybe he couldn't do it when Spectre's power left him.

[halloweenjack.insanejournal.com]

I hate Identity Crisis, but I like jean!Eclipso a hell of a lot better than the old one.

[jlroberson.insanejournal.com]

Personally, I always thought Eclipso was kind of stupid. Maybe it was the costume. But when they actually raised it to a being the same level as the Spectre, I just went, I'm going to forget they said that.

[yaseen101.insanejournal.com]

Although I do like Ralph as the skinny, pointy nosed geek most of the time, I kind of like this look for Ralph.

[bluefall.insanejournal.com]

I wish this whole thing would just die, I really, really do.

Incidentally, "The Origin of the Black Canary" on the cover there is cracking my shit up. Tears of laughter, here.

[busterella.insanejournal.com]

Ralph's hobotastic beard of sorrow makes me laugh.

Fuck Identity Crisis.

That is all.

[thanekos.insanejournal.com]

So Yeah. (http://dibnydiary.blogspot.com/2006/11/you-are-my-bitch-now-dr-fate.html)

[kingrockwell]

Assuming the History of the DCU backups count as separate stories, each main 52 story's only 20 pages. You've got 7 2/3, which is a page over the limit.
(and dammit there goes my Vic-has-cancer post)

[jlbarnett.insanejournal.com]

So just assume it isn't.