New Beginnings - Earth 2 and Worlds' Finest

As part of the second wave of DC’s 52 we have a nice little double header this week. Released a fortnight ago we have the re-emergence of Earth 2 and also a subsequent spin off for Worlds’ Finest (more to follow in a little as to why).

Beginning with Earth 2, which is calling itself an “epic” already, we are thrust into an alternate reality where the Apokolips war is raging knee deep in the battle with Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Still working as a team they look similar to the heroes we are familiar with but as the story expands we begin to see how they have changed and their lives are altered. Diana is the last Amazon, Robin is Batman’s daughter Helena Wayne, and Superman doesn’t have his famous human streak when he claims he is going to kill Steppenwolf. It’s a very different world indeed.

The battle progresses following both the bigger picture and the struggles that each of our main characters are enduring, all to create an opening for Batman to strike at the heart of the enemy. The fight is hard fought with untimely endings for our Trinity, and Supergirl and Robin are last seen heading into a Boom Tube. So what more could there be? The world has survived the invasion but at the cost of its superheroes.

One year later, we see other characters emerging. We find Alan Scott narrating a TV tribute to the lost legends and elsewhere a young Jay Garrick finds Mercury lying in a crater, in a way that echoes Hal Jordan and Abin Sur's fateful encounter in the prime universe. James Robinson has written a strong introductory piece which is placing down very firm groundwork for what can be a good title. What is also nice is that there is no prerequisite for the reader either. It’s a new world and so you while you may recognise the characters but don’t need to know their histories to be able to enjoy the story, simply because they aren’t going to be the same.

What it does also do is establish a foothold for other titles and name drop one or two more as well.

Worlds’ Finest is a fine (excuse the pun) example of just this. As part of the Earth 2 storyline Robin and Supergirl chase a figure, possibly Steppenwolf, into a Boom Tube and emerge in whole new world. Instantly recognising this they both establish new lives, while Supergirl has been looking for a way home. Robin has become Huntress and through the course of the story Supergirl dons the mantle of Power Girl.

A lot of the issue is spent establishing the characters, their new “beginnings” and how they have come to fit within this new society without also losing who they are too. Robin has taken her money and ploughed it into what can only be described as an innate desire to fight crime as she did as Batman’s daughter. Supergirl on the other hand has become a mysterious socialite with a penchant for acquiring real estate and businesses. Both gravitating towards helping others which is something that they will never lose.

As it is not a giant issue Paul Levitz has had to move fairly quickly but the flow keeps moving forward without breaking or losing the reader at any point. There is an air of ambiguity at the end where the big bad rears his ugly radioactive head. But this, as well as the depiction of our heroines, has been incorporated into the story.

My only regret is that although it was fun it didn’t feel like it had the same depth. There was a moment when the almost clichéd idea of Power Girl being T&A is brushed upon but it’s so out of the context that it makes for an awkward joke which only fans will get. The other thing that I didn’t totally get was the change in artists and artwork between the story and flashbacks. In principal I can understand but when you’ve worked off the back of another comic to begin with it makes no sense to change the artwork so much. I just didn’t feel the art on this title was as strong, so the contrast was obvious but not for the best of reasons.

As a pair of new titles I felt that for the casual or new reader that Earth 2 was definitely one to get on with but Worlds’ Finest didn’t quite hit the mark. Saying that though the pair do work well together and have a strong synergy for anyone who likes the characters but wants a new or refreshing twist on what they already have established or know.

Matt Puddy is ready for the return of Batman Inc. next week...

52 New Beginnings - Justice League

Captain Atom

reviewed by D Kai Wilson-Viola

A natural disaster threatens an unexpected city, and Captain Atom, whom has in the preceding pages been established as ‘breaking down’ in more ways than one, has to respond. Sounds like a good recipe for a comic right? Perhaps something even marginally ground-breaking?

It’s not all good though - I’m not sure if that was a deliberate allegory to the storyline, or if it was something accidental – but the first read through of the comic made me think ‘nothing special’. Just not till the very – absolute – last page of the first comic. Second read through and I spotted some subtleties I’d missed – but had I not been reviewing, and had that second page not caught me, I think I’d have not bothered again.

I quite enjoyed Captain Atom – like many of the superheroes that we encounter, he’s flawed – damaged in some way – and it’s a refreshing change to see someone that suffers inwardly instead of the tired tropes of being an orphan or other characterisation broad stroke that comics seem to employ. He’s been in a horrible accident, changing him, but this seems to be after his peak of power. Again, very interesting, but again, I found it difficult to empathise. There was definitively something missing from it.

Crisp artwork, mostly in shades that fit the mood that it’s trying to express, with clean, clever dialogue cap off a comic that didn’t go in the direction that I expected – and though I went into it reading something I thought was pretty much average, I came out of it wondering how they were going to run with the story. And what he’d done to create that very last thought, on the very last page.

It has action, and it has a certain amount of charm, but this is one of the comics that I think is going to kick ass on the back story – as well as go forward with what could be a very interesting – and possibly unique – setup.

DC Universe Presents

reviewed by D Kai Wilson-Viola

Amazing artwork with a bit of a cocky swagger to the inner monologue, and I was actually quite enjoying the whole thing until the third page when I got to, "flying through the air with the greatest of ease." Hello cliché. And they didn’t stop there, which is, in my book at least, unforgivable.

Deadman was a trapeze artist. Assassinated, I assume, because he was a bit of an arrogant piece of work by his own admission, he is to reincarnate and continue on to enlightenment. It kinda goes downhill from there. The concept has one touching element – the one thing that could redeem him – that he "had to do something" before possessing his next soul. The whole "cathartic healing of others via possession" concept could have been so much more – Quantum Leap for example did it in a much more interesting way.

Some of the other broad stroke characters that he’s ‘been’ that are dumbed down and expressed in one panel clichés: the priest who’s lost his faith; or the stripper who hates her father, yet cries because she misses him so much; the death wish stuntman (who makes an appearance at the beginning of the narration). All of them are trite and contrived - while I get that it’s supposed to be "just another step" for him and a life changing event for them – one panel just didn’t seem to do that concept justice. The encapsulation and back story dump, with the obvious stereotypes made me feel cheated, and that overshadowed the rest of the comic.

I guess that’s the other thing that bothered me – there was no working for the back story – and by the time I’d gotten to about the eighth panel of "I was once...", I wasn’t interested in his back story, I was bored. And to be fair, once again, that was perfect characterisation – Deadman isn’t enlightened, in the slightest. He’s still the self-centred guy that he appeared to be when assassinated. It’d might be interesting to see where this second instalment goes, but for now, I’m pretty much on the fence. It’s a pity, because the artist is amazing.

Wonder Woman

reviewed by Kate Townshend

Oh Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman! If you're expecting me to manage anything even remotely impartial on this one, then I fear I shall be a sad disappointment. You can’t offer up a gorgeous, wise Amazonian who takes down penthouse-owning misogynists and expect me to be anything other than dazzled.

Even the front cover, which is the most stylised and obviously ‘graphic’ of the DC offerings I’ve seen so far, is a feminist wet dream. She is fierce and sexy and focused, and most importantly, pretty damn well supported by that rather fetching bodice...

And although it doesn’t feel forced, the new writers have pretty much taken Wonder Woman’s status as a bit of a Suffragette icon and run with it. The most obvious ‘villain’ of the piece is introduced early on, and I think it would be fair to say that he might have some issues with his mother...

I worry slightly that other, ‘normal’ women in the series are going to be treated as slightly disposable, which rather undercuts the overall message, but I’m willing to hold fire on that for now. It is at least nice to see a female heroine protecting another woman. This is another one to add to my ‘comics that pass the Bechdel Test’ pile.

The artwork inside this issue is ‘graphic’ in the other sense of the word, and there’s a fair amount of blood being spilled from the word go. To be honest, there might even be a little bit too much going on as it all gets a little bit busy and confusing in places.

Then again, this does add to the sense of instant crisis and chaos that seems to make the pages sparkle with energy throughout. It raises questions, refuses to answer almost any of them and is generally a rather breathless read.

Most interestingly of all, is that although Wonder Woman instantly commands attention in any frame in which she features, it isn’t all about her just yet.

If the writers plan to ‘always leave ‘em wanting more’ of her, then it’s working. On me at least.

News on the DC New 52 titles shipping next week!

Ouch, just seen my invoice for next week's delivery. Some fairly severe allocations for the order increases we placed for some of the New DC 52 titles shipping next week. All the current customer reservations are fine, but if you want any of the following and you haven't already ordered it I advise you come in Wednesday morning!

Batman #1 (VARIANT COVER ONLY FOR THE SHELVES!!! Standard cover is sold out to pre-orders. Please note this variant will cost £9.)

Birds Of Prey #1

Blue Beetle #1

Captain Atom #1

Catwoman #1

DC Universe Presents #1

Green Lantern Corps #1

Justice League #1 (3rd Printing) (Diamond aren't sending us any of my order for the 2nd Printing - very disappointing, their response: "Allocations will occur.")

Legion Of Super-Heroes #1

Nightwing #1

Red Hood And The Outlaws #1

Supergirl #1

Wonder Woman #1

NO FURTHER RESERVATIONS WILL BE TAKEN FOR THE TITLES ABOVE.

If you want something that you haven't already ordered, you'll have to get down ASAP. First come first served I'm afraid!

We are now sold out of Action Comics #1, Animal Man #1, Batman & Robin #1, Batwing #1, Deahtstroke #1, Detective Comics #1, Green Arrow #1, Green Lantern #1, Grifter #1, Justice League #1 (1st Printing), Justice League International #1, O.M.A.C.#1 and Superboy #1! Some second printings have been ordered - reservations can be made for second printings will stocks last so please get in touch.

Proud Lion Recommends Wonder Woman #600 and Superman #700

Last week saw the release of the landmark 700th issue of Superman. It's a bumper-sized anniversary issue containing three stories - one by outgoing writer James Robinson which serves as a nice bridge between his work on the War Of The Supermen miniseries and the new era that is about to be ushered in. It also worked well in it's own right, a story of Lois and Superman reunited after the past year's developments.

Next up Dan Jurgens, the writer of the classic Death Of Superman story, penning a story set 'back in the day' featuring a team-up of sorts between Dick Grayson when he was Robin and Superman. A fun and whimsical tale that emboldens the gravitas of the final story, a prelude to incoming writer J. Michael Straczynski's new story 'Grounded'.

JMS can be a writer who forgets that imagery in comics is as important as words, but here the balance is perfect and the hook - whilst not original in today's more introspective era of super heroics - is certainly one that has me eagerly awaiting issue #701.

This week we get the bumper sized issue #600 for Wonder Woman. Again, an anthology of stories form various creators. As of #601, JMS takes over on Wonder Woman as well and he hopes to reinvigorate the title that has been suffering from poor sales for many years.

Part of that plan includes a new costume designed by superstar artist and DC co-publisher Jim Lee. There's a sneak peak below. For more information, Comic Book Resources have a great interview with JMS here.

Wonder Woman #600 is out tomorrow.

Ben Fardon feels his tiara wearing days are behind him now.