New 52 Alan Scott is here...

Cover to Earth 2 #3, to be published this coming July. Solicits include the line "The all-new origin of ALAN SCOTT GREEN LANTERN – unlike any GL origin that's come before!"




I'll throw this to the wolves before I weigh in.

The image is neat. It definitely evokes the fire idea of the previous incarnation of Alan Scott, and perhaps even pushes it further.

I always personally thought that with the difference in the source of Alan Scott's power vs. that of the Corps members that there should be more of a difference. The idea of will filtered through finely refined science vs. will filtered through a barely controlled magic.

Laser vs. flamethrower, you know?

I am a little disappointed that the costume so closely resembles the standard uniform of a Corps member, but I'm learning to deal with disapointing costume changes, particularly with Earth-Two. (At least it is a thousand times better than that weird Ant-Man costume that Jay Garrick gets.)

And, with that thought in mind, I continue to be less than enthused with the visual cues offered by the new Earth-Two. I had really hoped that this book would be my new JSA... but that doesn't look like the feel they are going for at all.

I'm not exactly sure what their basis for Earth-Two really is. I mean, the original was kinda, "What if the Justice League got together in WWII," but this is... obviously not that.

I'm picking the book up, and with the pre-ordering, I'm in for at least four or five issues, but I can't say that I'm anywhere near as excited as I was when I heard this project was on its way. Maybe I'll be surprised and shocked and find it is an amazing book that somehow does evoke that "JSA" feeling.

We'll see.

I dig it--I don't see how it looks like the GLC costume, but it does do a fairly good job at stepping away from the classic look while still giving him an interesting costume.

Plus, considering what he was wearing before his reboot:



...Anything would have been a step up.

I think they are messing up Earth-2. I still don't think there should have been one... They should have had the JSA in WW2 and that would cover war stories and superhero without having to bring back to damn multiverse...

GLKitteh wrote:I think they are messing up Earth-2. I still don't think there should have been one... They should have had the JSA in WW2 and that would cover war stories and superhero without having to bring back to damn multiverse...

I don't think the Multiverse is really all that confusing or problematic--especially if they keep it in an obvious title like Earth 2 that tells you the score.

However, I wouldn't have said no to a JSA in WWII book at all. Hell, I thought a good way to do things if they wanted to make Superman the first public "super-hero" of the DCnU would have been to do what they did in Smallville: have it that they existed, but was only known about by the most higher-ups of government.

Picture this: It's WWII, the Axis have compiled some of the most strange, violent, and overwealmingly powerful weapons and artifacts that's turning the tide. The Allies turn to men and women within their shores with strange abilities--people who can run faster than the speed of sound, shoot powerful green fire from their strange metal ring and many more. They're from different cultures and have conflict, but they all fight together for one purpose--to stop the Nazis from destroying the world.

Or, to do the elevator pitch--think Inglorious Basterds with super-powers.

There was a time, in the late 90s and early 2000s, where JSA was THE DC book. Best of the bunch, the big guns, the most bang for your buck and the gold standard for superhero comics. But then, when Geoff Johns left the book to work on Infinite Crisis, the book fell. HARD. And it never really recovered. JSA ended with a whimper, and they tried to rekindle that spark when they got Geoff Johns back to re-launch it as "Justice Society of America", and while it was pretty good, it never really lit anyone's world on fire like "JSA" did. And while I know some forum people enjoyed that run of the series as it wrapped up just before the New 52, the JSA just wasn't living up to their own legacy of quality.

...all that to say, I too wanted a more traditional JSA series out of this (basically I wanted the "Before Watchmen: Minutemen" only for THIS set of characters), but I absolutely understand why they're going in the direction they are. They've spent the last six years trying to make the classic JSA a successful book again, and it just hasn't been working. So they're taking this chance to try something new instead. It's also probably why the book isn't titled to be specific to the JSA.

I'm going into the Earth 2 series with an open mind, until they prove to me they're making a mistake. I'm expecting the JSA to be contemporaries of the JLA instead of an older generation, and I'm expecting the events of Justice League #6 to be the inciting incident for the JSA exactly like it was for the League. Will it suck? Will it feel like ok fan fiction? Will I feel like I'm just reading a second Justice League book? I'll let you know.

As for Alan's costume...I kind of like it. Part of me was terrified they were going to stick him in that Kingdom Come armor that everyone seems to love so much, which I don't really like at all, because it's visually kind of booring, and armor doesn't suit that character. This suit looks like a more armored version of John Stewart's costume (which is my favorite GL costume), with an emblem that's the GLC logo + a handle, which looks better than I'd think it would. I like the (implied) idea that Alan Scott could be firmly tied to this Earth's itteration of the Green Lantern Corps from the beginning...that aspect being crammed in there after the fact never really worked too well. Definitely interested to see where they go with this, and how much scifi will be part of Alan's character this time around, and what that means for any magical element to the character.

GLKitteh wrote:I think they are messing up Earth-2. I still don't think there should have been one... They should have had the JSA in WW2 and that would cover war stories and superhero without having to bring back to damn multiverse...

Don't go playing the multiverse card. The multiverse came back in Infinite Crisis, and was shown to have its own JSA that wasn't the same individuals we had on the regular Earth (ie, "our" Powergirl went there and met that Earth's Powergirl). DC could've published this exact series any time since 2006, relaunch or no relaunch.