FLASHPOINT #5
Writer: Geoff Johns; Penciler: Andy Kubert; Inker: Sandra Hope and Jesse Delperdang
I freely admit that I dismissed Flashpoint early on as a fun “Elseworlds” series, but one that ultimately would have no effect on the greater DC Universe. Now that I have finished eating an entire plate of crow, I will own up to being very, very wrong. However, I have a problem with the resolution, or rather, what turned out to be the beginning to this whole alternate universe. I just have a hard time accepting that the catalyst for the entire event was a monumental act of selfishness on the part of Barry Allen. The Barry Allen that would sacrifice his own mother for the greater good by stopping himself from going back in time to save her is not the Barry Allen that would screw with the timeline like that to begin with. I just don’t buy it, so, ultimately the big revelation fell completely flat for me.
However, the event mini-series that changes an entire comic book universe ends with possibly the best Batman scene ever. This is an amazing catharsis for Bruce Wayne and I can’t help but wonder if this fundamentally changes the character, or at least lightens him up somewhat. This may be the most significant development for the character since he first donned the cowl. If this will be followed up on in the Batman titles and affect his mission and demeanor going forward, I may suddenly be interested in the Dark Knight Detective again. We will find out in the coming weeks.
Then there is that double page spread with a mysteriously cloaked figure informing Barry that long ago the timeline was split into three to “weaken your world for their impending arrival” which, with the stranger apparently popping up in all the new 52 books, means that everything is probably building to some sort of event next summer. Another Crisis, perhaps? One that returns everything back to pre-September in the event of lagging sales and interest in the new books? I’m very excited and optimistic about The New 52, but the lead-in to and explanation for the changing has left me cynical. DC Comics has September and the months to come to change my mind.
JUSTICE LEAGUE #1
Writer: Geoff Johns; Penciler: Jim Lee; Inker: Scott Williams
The Justice League gets a new #1 issue as well as a new origin. While both of these have happened in one form or another at least half a dozen times since the team debuted in 1960, this time is significant as being probably the first time the team has begun from the beginning with a complete reboot. This also our first full look at the new DC Universe. We see a Green Lantern and Batman who have never met, but are aware of each other. And the last page gives us our first full-on, in new continuity look at Superman. Presumably, the alien that Lantern and Bats are chasing will have something to do with what ultimately brings our heroes together to form the League, but we’ll just have to see how that plays out.
This story is set “five years ago” when super-heroes are relatively new to the greater DC Universe and, as such, are somewhat feared by the general populace and not entirely tolerated by law enforcement, especially Batman. Supposedly this are the first ever super-heroes as the Justice Society and any World War II heroes never existed. Basically, this is the old Earth-1, Earth-2 scenario from pre-1986 back, which I think is pretty cool. For those of us who have been reading comics for more than 25 or 30 years, this is even cooler than the return of the multiverse in Infinite Crisis. It seems that the new DC Universe is a mix of the pre-Crisis On Infinite Earths structure of continuity with the All-Star Universe titles’ sensibilities and story structure. Again, the coming months as well as the rest of the titles will prove or disprove this.
So how is the first introduction to the new DCU? Pretty cool. It’s a well written tale with some great Lee/Williams art and certainly whets the appetite for more. I think it was smart to kick things off at the dawn of super-heroics to give us an idea of how things are in this new continuity. I wonder for how many issues we will be five years in the past and if all the new #1 issues start out in the same place. With the mystery lady from Flashpoint making a “Where’s Waldo?” appearance I also wonder how closely tied all the new titles will be. Next week we get a full slate of thirteen titles including comics featuring Superman and Batman, so I suspect more will be answered. My theory is that the continuity pre-September still exists on New Earth, the New 52 is set on Earth-1 and we’ll see some titles set on other Earths, like the upcoming Justice Society book taking place on Earth-2. All in all, Justice League #1 is a solid start to the New 52 and I can’t read to read the rest of the titles for this month!