DC Earth 2

[Ghornet2]

This is not your fathers Earth 2 (Or mine for that matter), but WOW!!! This is not a fresh take on the JSA, its a complete revamping. I was prepared to hate it but it was very good. Just forget there ever was a JSA and start from scratch. It features Batman, Suoerman and Wonderwoman and we meet Alan Scott, Jay Garrick and Al Pratt. No powers yet but . . . :D

[tony ingram]

The trouble is, speaking as someone who has followed the JSA for 36 years, has every single appearance they've made as a team and most of the members solo appearances since their Silver Age revival in Flash plus all the Golden Age archive editions, and considers them the greatest superhero team ever: I can't forget there ever was a JSA. I wouldn't want to. And I'd sooner scoop out my own eyeballs than read this travesty of a reboot, which has trashed over 70 years of history and continuity and finally cemented my decision never to buy another DC title. It's a mockery of the JSA. I just hope it fails as miserably as it deserves to.

[positronic]

The trouble is, speaking as someone who has followed the JSA for 36 years, has every single appearance they've made as a team and most of the members solo appearances since their Silver Age revival in Flash plus all the Golden Age archive editions, and considers them the greatest superhero team ever:

Me too, but add 10 years to that.


I can't forget there ever was a JSA. I wouldn't want to. And I'd sooner scoop out my own eyeballs than read this travesty of a reboot, which has trashed over 70 years of history and continuity and finally cemented my decision never to buy another DC title. It's a mockery of the JSA. I just hope it fails as miserably as it deserves to.

Amen. "The New DC" should just change their motto to "F*** you, longtime fans." They refuse to give us an inch or throw us a bone.

[tony ingram]

I can't understand it even from a purely business viewpoint. How does it benefit them to alienate the one chunk of their fanbase whose brand loyalty is already proven and who would probably have continued to buy DC for another twenty years or so, in hopes of attracting new readers they don't know for certain are out there?

[positronic]

Apparently there were 50 "casual" DC fans (cartoon/movie/toy fan, lapsed reader, occasional buyer, disgruntled Marvel fan) just waiting for DC to hit the reset button (or people are just oh-so-easily seduced by the magic number 1) to every 1 loyal hardcore pre-Flashpoint DC fan. The numbers seem to prove it (or, retailers are sitting on a LOT of overstock). Why DC wouldn't want to have it both ways is a question I can't answer.

The top ten New 52 titles are doing phenomenally well. Numbers 11 through 20 are reasonably healthy also. Numbers 21 through 50-whatever (with miniseries, it's actually closer to 60) are struggling to survive just a much as the bottom-most pre-reboot DC titles have always struggled, perhaps moreso.

[tony ingram]

Apparently there were 50 "casual" DC fans (cartoon/movie/toy fan, lapsed reader, occasional buyer, disgruntled Marvel fan) just waiting for DC to hit the reset button (or people are just oh-so-easily seduced by the magic number 1) to every 1 loyal hardcore pre-Flashpoint DC fan. The numbers seem to prove it (or, retailers are sitting on a LOT of overstock). Why DC wouldn't want to have it both ways is a question I can't answer. Or, just possibly, the limited sale-or-return policy which enabled stores to overorder in safety has been used to skew the figures. And then, there are all the usual self deluding speculative investors who've bought up multiple copies of everything in hopes of selling them at inflated prices on ebay...


The top ten New 52 titles are doing phenomenally well. Numbers 11 through 20 are reasonably healthy also. Numbers 21 through 50-whatever (with miniseries, it's actually closer to 60) are struggling to survive just a much as the bottom-most pre-reboot DC titles have always struggled, perhaps moreso.And we're only eight months into the reboot. I don't think anyone doubted there'd be a sales spike, but will it last? I doubt it. A lot of those new readers lured in by the reboot will have moved on to their next short term obsession within twelve months.

[positronic]

Or, just possibly, the limited sale-or-return policy which enabled stores to overorder in safety has been used to skew the figures. And then, there are all the usual self deluding speculative investors who've bought up multiple copies of everything in hopes of selling them at inflated prices on ebay...

I think we're well past the window of returnability at this point, and the top ten books remain firmly ensconced on Diamond's sales charts. Speculators have always been a problem for the comic book industry. It's what drove the boom-and-bust of Valiant Comics in the 1990s, and the mid-90s crash of the comic book business in general. It may be happening again, but I haven't personally become aware of it in this instance. Things may or may not be different in England.


And we're only eight months into the reboot. I don't think anyone doubted there'd be a sales spike, but will it last? I doubt it. A lot of those new readers lured in by the reboot will have moved on to their next short term obsession within twelve months.

In my heart of hearts, I'd dearly love to believe it were true, and that DC will "eventually come to its senses" and undo the "New 52 Folly", but realistically, we should heed the sage advice of the late great H.L. Mencken, American journalist, essayist, magazine editor, and satirist:

"No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public."

Personally, as a fan, I abhor everything the New DC represents, but from the viewpoint of a dispassionate observer, you have to admit it's been one of the greatest examples of stunt-marketing ever.

[Tulku]

Getting back to Earth 2 itself, it seems that characters like Alan Scott and Jay Garrick are being re-conceived as young 20-somethings. Seriously, does DC really think we need Yet Another Bunch of young, inexperienced hot-headed heroes? I mean, if we wanted that, couldn't we just read, oh, every other book DC publishes? What was great about JSA in recent years is that they had the old, seasoned veterans--and spun stories around that dynamic. But apparently no more.

[tony ingram]

Apparently, DC believes the new, younger readers it wants to attract don't want to read about characters over thirty. Likewise, Suicide Squad's Amanda Waller is no longer a middle aged, overweight woman because all females must be young and attractive. And of course, the fact that Barbara Gordon as Oracle was the most positive role model for disabled people in comics was irrelevant because nobody wants to read about disabled people.

The New DC: Comics for the Young and Hot.
And for nobody else.

[positronic]

Rebooting the JSA is pointless. DC seems to have completely forgotten that the Justice League is already a reboot of the JSA. That bit probably got lost to most people during the decades when both teams were part of a merged history.

But you're right Tony, DC really doesn't want any older readers.

[ChastMastr]

Since it's by James Robinson and Paul Levitz, it's actually been quite good so far. Just think of it as basically another parallel universe with an alternate version of the JSA (which it basically is--as the mainstream DCU is basically an alternate universe as well, really), and it's fine.

I am sure we will get classic versions of the DC characters again down the road, somehow. Till then, the Young Justice and GL shows will have to sate my "classic DC" interests...