The New 52 #1's... your thoughts?

[The Toyroom]

It still works for the most part if it's set on Earth 2. Starman always tends to skate around Shade's role in Flash of Two Worlds anyways.

I'm not sure if there are any major Earth 1 players in Starman... Maybe Ralph and Sue Dbney? The time Jack asked the JLA to borrow a spaceship maybe?

The major crossovers were with Sandman Mystery Theatre and Shazam.

There was a LOT of "Earth-1" history in "Starman" (albeit some of it was "mixed" with old Earth-2 characters)...

Jack Knight teamed up with Batman (and Golden Age Green Lantern) to tackle Solomon Grundy...

The aforementioned cross-over with "Power of Shazam!"....

Jack travelled to Krypton (which was the "modern" Supes Krypton and not that of Earth-2...

The Mist (II) killed off quite a few members of Justice League Europe...

Thom Kallor of the LSH travelled back in time and met Jack...

When Jack was in space he teamed up with Adam Strange, Omega Men, the GL Corps...

[Earth 2 Chris]

So, this is set in the previous DCU? I know they haven't quite made up their minds about Earth 2 and the JSA apparently. Or they just haven't announced their plans yet. But my guess is they are making it up as they go along.

Chris

[The Toyroom]

So, this is set in the previous DCU?

It "seems" that way after the first issue...Oh, I forgot, he squares off with Deathstroke at the end of #1.

But my guess is they are making it up as they go along.

Yup...winging it...

[johnnystorm]

Well, we haven't seen Earth-2 yet, so it's entirely possible SOME of the JSA characters are no longer affiliated with the team, and existed only on Earth-1. So Starman may have been on the main Earth, limited to Opal City and not known outside of the city itself. Opal always seemed to be a place unto itself anyway. And while owing a lot to the JSA, Starman probably had more Earth-1 reference in it, those instances sited above, plus ties to Scalphunter, Nighthawk, Silent Knight, etc.

Would also explain why Mr. Terrific, Power Girl, & Huntress are not part of it either. I'm guessing Wildcat will be seen as an Earth-1 character as well, maybe the Spectre & Dr. Fate too.

ORRRR... there's going to be a crossover at some point, a modern day Flash of Two Worlds or Crisis on Earths 1&2?

[johnnystorm]

As far as the new DCU, the second issue of Demon Knights wasn't up to the promise of the first, and I've lost track of who's who already. Wonder Woman 2 was good, sticking with that, but I'm not interested in most of the Bat or Super titles.
Batgirl #2 left me wondering just how Babs has forgotten all her Oracle abilities...seriously, from being the top computer expert in the DCU to borrowing internet time at the library for research? Really? And the annoying roommate thing...meh. feels like I'm suddenly reading backup stories from Detective Comics circa 1969. If it continues like this I'm dropping it.

[samurainoir]

In issue #1, Shade is having a conversation with Mikaal Tomas (Starman III) and Congorilla is referenced...since they both served in the JLA during Robinson's tenure on the book I'd surmise that this story takes place on Earth-1 and not the new Earth-2.

Except as of this latest reboot, wouldn't that incarnation be out of continuity now? Donna Troy for exampled dropped out of the new 52 Earth. Red Arrow not armless etc.

Apparently, nothing between the original Crisis and Infinite Crisis was really set on "earth 1"... It was the merged earth they dubbed "new earth" or whatever. if they split it back into an earth 1 and Earth 2 continuity after the events of Flashpoint, arguably Jack knight and co's timeline would have to fall on the Earth 2 side of things given Starman and the golden age flash (who was The Shade's original nemesis) were JSA and the main layers in Opal follow that path. That would leave the back story much more intact if they removed the "earth 1" elements rather than the "earth 2" elements. Batman, Superman, Elongated Man and the JLE can be Retconned out without too much fuss to Jack Knight and The Shade's main story arcs.

Just me speculation on how this new timeline "works" (or doesn't work)with the Vertogo/Wildstorm merger. I guess we'll see in the next few months, but the previews lend me to believe that it's following the golden age legacies.

[The Toyroom]

As a long-time Legion fan I think I might be dropping the new book....Legion Lost has left me lost and the main title by Paul Levitz isn't that much better...In fact, I've given Levitz the benefit of the doubt since he returned to the LSH but I think he's too rusty. Geoff Johns had a better handle on the LSH during the Legion of 3 Worlds mini IMO. Plus I have yet to be thrilled with any of the artists on any of the recent Legion stuff (including the recent Adventure Comics appearances).

[The Toyroom]

Except as of this latest reboot, wouldn't that incarnation be out of continuity now? Donna Troy for exampled dropped out of the new 52 Earth. Red Arrow not armless etc.

Well it's a "soft reboot" so I'm not sure how much they're cherry picking from the recent stuff...Maybe Robinson has another story up his sleeve about how Mikaal and Congorilla became buddies....

[samurainoir]

Aquaman is definitely still solid action adventure in the second issue, and the humour of people's preconceptions of the character really does work within the context of the storyline. Crack's about his Orange Shirt, "Aquawoman" being a mermaid are hilarious to me in the metatextual, but don't necessarily draw you out of the story because everyone is playing it staight.

Silver age origin aside though, does anyone else think that this is kind of the way Grim and Humourless 90's Aquaman and Mera was played by Peter David? (sans the beard adn hook). Not that he wasn't cranky during JLA Detroit either.

[number 6]

Aquaman is definitely still solid action adventure in the second issue, and the humour of people's preconceptions of the character really does work within the context of the storyline. Crack's about his Orange Shirt, "Aquawoman" being a mermaid are hilarious to me in the metatextual, but don't necessarily draw you out of the story because everyone is playing it staight.

Silver age origin aside though, does anyone else think that this is kind of the way Grim and Humourless 90's Aquaman and Mera was played by Peter David? (sans the beard adn hook). Not that he wasn't cranky during JLA Detroit either.

Well, it seems like every super hero since the late 80's has been 'grim and humorless', but I think there is a bit of a difference between the two. John's Aquaman seems a bit stoic and pensive; David's Aquaman was surely and ultra-****ed. This issue (2) showed Aquaman with a genuine warm smile, I don't think hook Aquaman would have been caught dead doing that.

I'm not sure what to make of the swipes at Aquaman's perceived 'lameness'. On the one hand, I don't find the humor completely off-putting. But I've always liked Aquaman and have never felt defensive about it. The criticisms that others make of Aquaman (his powers, his outfit, etc.) could very easily be made of 90% of costumed super heros. Just seems a bit of a waste to devote so much time to it.

I mean, there was a least 2 pages dedicated to it in this issue, at least 6 pages in the last issue. To me, it feels like it's slowing an otherwise good story down.

That, and the 8 pages of previews for comics I'm not the least bit interested in and have no intention of buying.

[samurainoir]

Just read Green Lantern New Guardians. Some nice character bits between Rayner and Saint Walker, but the pace is unbearable for me at this point as two issues has pretty much been one big brawl between the various Lanterns chasing after Kyle and his collection of rings. It's not that I'm not interested in what is going on, but there is so little story or character substance for two issues into this title. I'll probably finish out the arc, but not sure if I'll be continuing with this series after that.

Not sure what they are going with in Batman Dark Knight with all these Hulked Out Supervillains. Nice to see the return of The Ventriloquist, but I'm on the fence with this one as well.

[Bruce Banner]

The JL roster is slowly coming together. Wonder Woman appeared this month. Aquaman is next!

This is one of the few New 52 books I'm prepared to stick with for a while, to see where they take the team.

[The Toyroom]

As of issue #2 I've dumped "Firestorm" and "JLI", as of issue #3 "Frankenstein, Agent of SHADE"....Not really holding my interest to hold on and see where they go....VERY disappointed by the direction with Firestorm...

[boynightwing]

I dumped Firestorm too. I'm about to dump Birds of Prey. Suicide Squad didn't keep me interested either.

My favorites: Flash, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Red Hood, Batman, Batman and Robin, Batgirl, Nightwing, Catwoman, and Green Lantern. Oh and Action of course.

[samurainoir]

As of the third issues, I'm solidly on board with Animal Man, Swamp Thing, Woder Woman and Action Comics. It will be interesting what happens now that they are starting creative team shuffles already on some of the line-up.