One of my big worries about the book had been that DC Comics’ Trinity of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman would overshadow the more exclusively-Justice Society characters like Jay Garrick and Alan Scott. They’ve solved this problem neatly, and in the process given the book a bit more of a hook than it would have had otherwise.

I’ve seen the issue described as a prologue, and it is, in that most of the issue takes place five years before the main series picks up. But it’s also a finale: The first 20 pages or so are really the concluding chapter in an apocalyptic war that changed the face of the world. In fact, if Earth 2 does well enough, I can see DC telling the story as a 6-issue miniseries, though the final issue really ought to be a reprint of this story plus an epilogue.

I like what I’ve seen of Alan Scott so far. I haven’t seen enough of Al Pratt to decide. Jay Garrick…well…I’m not terribly thrilled at what’s become of him, but let’s see what we get in issue #2.

On to the spoilers!

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To me, a big part of the appeal of the Justice Society is that they’re substantially different from the Justice League. Jay Garrick is not Barry Allen, Alan Scott is not Hal Jordan, and so on. But outside of short-term replacement stories, Superman is always Kal-El, Wonder Woman is always Diana, and Batman is always Bruce Wayne.

So in my opinion, DC needs to take one of two approaches to the trinity in a Justice Society book:

• Focus on the actual original Justice Society, not a revamp.
• Get the trinity out of the way so the other characters can shine.

There are several ways DC could have pushed Bruce, Clark and Diana to the side, but they chose to have the three heroes sacrifice their lives to save the world. That sets them up as inspiration (and preserves a little of the generational aspect of the team), but allows Jay, Alan and company to step up and become the world’s new premiere heroes. It also gives the book more of a reason to exist. Rather than simply, “Oh, it’s another reality” — okay, why focus on it? — we have a reality that specifically lost the Big Three.

In this context I also don’t mind that DC killed off the Amazons and Lois Lane yet again, because they’re killing off the entire mythologies for these characters. The last members of the Superman and Batman families are stranded on another world as Power Girl and the Huntress, and the last of the Greek/Roman gods is about to pass his legacy on to the Flash.

The war pages are by turns epic, gruesome and — in the case of the final conversation between Batman and Robin — touching. While neither Superman nor Wonder Woman left much of an impression on me, I find that I’d actually like to read more about this father/daughter dynamic duo. More problematic: why is it that only Wonder Woman’s death is shown in graphic detail, while Superman and Batman are just caught in explosions?

The present-day pages introduce us to the new Alan Scott and Jay Garrick. I like this Alan Scott: he’s the kind of businessman who’s really good at what he does, but doesn’t sacrifice principles or a conscience.

Jay Garrick, however, is a self-proclaimed “screw-up” (in the movie Hal Jordan mold, anyway, where we’re told that he’s a screw-up) who seems to have no ambition, no prospects, and no direction. If we take Joan Williams’ break-up rant at face value, he’s gone beyond the “everyman” that James Robinson described into total slacker territory. And if we take it as exaggerated, it doesn’t exactly paint Joan in the best light. (Not that she made a great first impression in 1940 either, but she quickly grew into the role of confidante.)

I’m going to be watching issue #2 to see how Jay gets fleshed out, but based on the first impression, I kind of want to cast Seth Rogen…who doesn’t really fit my idea of the Flash.

Earth 2 #1
Written by James Robinson
Art by Nicola Scott and Trevor Scott
Cover by Ivan Reis and Joe Prado

Review: Earth 2 #1 is a post from Speed Force.

• Wonder Woman
• Superman
• Batman
• Green Lantern
• The Flash

The miniseries less directly related to the major characters were spread around the other books, some thematically and some apparently at random, but the Flash collection is actually filled with stories focusing on Flash characters: Citizen Cold, Kid Flash Lost, Reverse-Flash, Legion of Doom (starring Heat Wave) and Grodd of War.

The site has also put together a Flashpoint trade reading order.

Collected Editions Reviews Flashpoint is a post from Speed Force.

Here’s the complete list:

• Green Lantern: Circle of Fire #1 – Liquidcross (The Indigo Tribe)
• Green Lantern and Adam Strange by Kelson Vibber (Speed Force)
• Green Lantern and the Atom – Frank Lee Delano (Power of the Atom)
• Green Lantern and Green Lantern – Liquidcross (The Indigo Tribe)
• Green Lantern and Firestorm the Nuclear Man – The Irredeemable Shag (Firestorm Fan, with a second feature on his own blog).
• Green Lantern and Power Girl – Michael Bailey (Fortress of Baileytude)
• Green Lantern: Circle of Fire #2 – Liquidcross (The Indigo Tribe)

My review covered the team-up between Adam Strange and Green Lightning, a speedster from the future who is a descendant of both the Rayner and West families, who has inherited speed and the Green Lantern ring but can only use one power each day.

The Circle of Fire is Complete is a post from Speed Force.

Green Lightning is a speedster from the future, a descendant of both Wally West and Kyle Rayner, who has inherited both super-speed and the Green Lantern ring. The two sides of her family insist that she follow their legacy alone, so that she can use only one set of powers each day — much to Adam Strange’s annoyance as they try to protect Rann from Oblivion!

Head over to The Indigo Tribe to read my review!

Adam Strange Meets Green Lightning (Circle of Fire Review) is a post from Speed Force.

I’ll be reviewing Green Lantern/Adam Strange, in which the space-going hero teams up with Green Lightning, a speedster Green Lantern from the future who is a descendant of both Kyle Rayner and Wally West.

The other guest bloggers featured are Frank from The Idol-Head of Diabolu (Green Lantern/The Atom), Shag from Firestorm Fan (Green Lantern/Firestorm), and Michael from The Fortress of Baileytude (Green Lantern/Power Girl).

Read on with Green Lantern: Circle of Fire #1 at The Indigo Tribe!

Green Lantern: Circle of Fire – The Blog Event Begins is a post from Speed Force.

The Collected Editions blog is focusing on Flashpoint this week with reviews of two Flashpoint collections from the perspective of a trade-waiter. For those of us who read new comics on a month-to-month basis, it’s worth stepping back and considering how differently these read when you read a series in the form of one or two collections a year.

• Review: Flash: The Road to Flashpoint (TPB)
• Review: Flashpoint (HC)

Flashpoint Week at Collected Editions is a post from Speed Force.

1. Wednesday: It’s new comic day! I can’t wait to read this week’s comics! I’ll just have to make sure I finish my review tonight or tomorrow so it’s among the first batch people see.
2. Saturday: There are still some people who buy comics on the weekend, right? So a review is still timely.
3. Tuesday: Crap, new comics will be out tomorrow! I’d better make sure I post that review tonight!
4. Next Wednesday: Well, everyone’s going to be reading reviews of this week’s comics. So I guess I’ve got three weeks to review this one before the next one’s out.
5. Three Tuesdays Later: Crap, the new issue is out tomorrow and I still haven’t reviewed this one! I’d better get cracking!
6. Wednesday: Eh, forget it. No one wants to read a review of last month’s issue. But hey, it’s new comic day! I can’t wait to read this week’s comics! I’ll just have to make sure I finish my review tonight or tomorrow so it’s among the first batch people see….

Lather, rinse, repeat.

The Six Stages of (not) Writing Comics Reviews is a post from Speed Force.

Austin Grossman’s novel Soon I Will Be Invincible is a fun romp through every super-hero cliché ever invented over the history of the genre. Time-travel, cyborgs, telepaths, aliens, evil geniuses, legacy heroes, secret identities, heroes going bad, villains turning good — everything. It’s an affectionate, tongue-in-cheek parody of the tights-and-flights set.

The book is narrated in alternate chapters by Dr. Impossible, a mad scientist who has held the world in his grasp a dozen times, only to be defeated by his arch-nemesis CoreFire — whom he inadvertently created — and by Fatale (as in “Femme”), a small-time cyborg hero who has just been invited to join the world’s premiere super-team, the Champions.

» Read my full review…

Wayback Wednesday: Soon I Will Be Invincible is a post from Speed Force.

September is over, and DC’s New 52 comics have all debuted. Halfway through the month I reviewed four of the New 52 launches. Now that the month is over, it’s time to look at the rest of the books I picked up.

Flash #1

Judging by this issue, The Flash may finally be getting back on track. The book was focused, moved quickly, and managed to lay out the ground rules for new and returning readers alike without getting overly bogged down in exposition. Most importantly, Manapul & Buccellato understand that a book about a guy who runs fast should be fun, not serious and full of angst.

See my full review for more.

Resurrection Man #1

I thought this book was technically very good, but for some reason it didn’t really grab me. It did a great job of setting up the main character, establishing his powers, and setting up a hero-on-the-run dynamic, without ever getting too expository. Critically, rather than letting people wonder how badly Mitch Shelley can be injured before he can’t resurrect, in this first issue he’s…well, let’s just say killed very thoroughly, and he still comes back to life. I think it’s also the only New 52 debut issue I read that’s actually a complete, done-in-one story.

Still, I got to the end feeling vaguely unsatisfied for some reason. I’ll certainly check out issue #2, but I’m on the fence.

Justice League Dark #1

I wanted to like this more than I did. Partly I’m more interested in the characters as a dark fantasy team than as a group of broken people. (I’m not a fan of Madame Xanadu as drug addict, for instance.) Partly I was hoping that, despite the title, it would stay as far away as possible from the main Justice League. Partly I didn’t think Milligan balanced exposition and story very well. A lot of characters wound up saying things for the sake of the reader rather than for the sake of what they might have been saying. I think I’m on board for the first arc, but I’m not sure if I’ll stick around past it.

Overall: How Did the New 52 Do?

• On board: Flash, Demon Knights, Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E.
• On the fence: Resurrection Man and Justice League Dark.
• Didn’t make the cut: Stormwatch, Justice League.

So… which New 52 comics did you pick up? Which ones did you love? Which ones did you hate?

New 52 Quick Hits: Flash, Resurrection Man, Justice League Dark is a post from Speed Force.

Flash #1 Reviews around the net.

• Comics Alliance – Flash #1 hits the ground running
• Multiversity Comics
• Inside Pulse – Dynamic Art + Likeable Character = Win
• Cosmic Treadmill
• Paste Magazine
• Complex
• Comic Book Resources
• Comic Vine
• Danger Mart
• Superhero Reviews
• Speed Force (of course!)
• Digital Spy
• IGN
• Comicbook.com
• MTV Geek
• Read/RANT
• Grumpy Old Fan/Robot 6
• IGN
• My Geeky Geeky Ways
• Comics Should Be Good reviews every single New 52 book
• Eye on Comics
• CBR New Reader Litmus Test (added)
• Mania (added)
• Newsarama Best Shots (added)

Co-writer Brian Buccellato is also asking people to leave links to their reviews on
his blog: So…what do you think?

Have you seen one I missed? Leave a comment here!

Flash #1 Review Round-Up (New 52) is a post from Speed Force.