Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Justice Society of America (spoilers!)

I remember a '90s Batman story where Bruce legally adopted Dick as an adult, so he would easily be able to inherit his estate.

Seems to me that E2 Huntress and Robin teamed up a lot in their appearances. I wonder how much older this Dick is than Helena? Possibly, anywhere between ten and twenty years, I'd imagine. Nothing wrong with that these days, but a bit odd, seeing as how Dick probably babysat her and what-not.

Which is probably why Dick is clueless about how Helena feels. He probably still thinks of her as the kid he use to babysit.

Hmmm...was there an E2 Barbara Gordon?

The metatext of this annual story is fascinating. After 20 years, through the intervention of a "god," Power Girl (representing we, the JSA/Earth-2 fans) goes home to Earth-2. And this certainly appears to be Earth-2, up to the COIE point and after when most of Infinity, Inc. got slaughtered. The feel and luck is pitch-perfect, with Jerry Ordway delivering art in a style that fits seamlessly with his efforts circa 1984.

And yet, the effect on this reader was very much like that on Power Girl -- the sense of misplacement, of things not being quite right. As angry as I am about how many Earth-2 characters were treated in the last 20 years, I find I prefer the ones who are left. The whole Flash mythos is so much richer for having Jay Garrick in it. Alan Scott's losses and travails make him an even more noble character. Wildcat is far cooler now, on New Earth, than he ever was on Earth-2, and he was pretty cool. And my lord, the cattywampus New Earth Hawkman has so much more oomph than his bland Earth-2 pedecessor.

Then, what do you know, ANOTHER Power Girl shows up and turns the entire JSI lickity split against OUR Power Girl, and before you know it the JSI is transformed into a vengeful mob of continuity-enforcing fanboys, determined to expunge the less-than-perfect Kara Zor-L from their museum-quality period piece of a world.

By the end of the book, I had very little interest left in a continuation of this Earth-2. After all, wasn't it supposed to be the land of better good guys, the Golden Age that the Earth-2 Superman wanted to recreate in Infinite Crisis? And yet, we have Helena Wayne completely lost, tied to a man she doesn't really love, so upset she's ready and willing to kill the Joker in retaliation. This is like expecting to watch a JFK hagiography on the History Channel and tuning in to Mad Men instead. Instead of the Golden Age, we get its ugly underbelly. Earth-2 isn't perfect. It's a world of repressed feelings with characters stuck in creative amber for the last 20 years and who are turning homicidal as a result.

One is left to wonder how much of this Johns consciously intended and how much just leaks out of his continuity/fanboy creative unconscious. Really, unless JSofA is relocating to Earth-2, and I don't think it is--Johns and Ross have just done too good a job giving it a rationale separate from JLA or any other team--then Earth-2 has to turn out to be undesirable. The characters (and us fan boys) could NOT spend the next umpteen years pining for the old days. Johns is showing us that the old days aren't as great as we remember them.

The Golden-Age JSAers that Gog met were the New Earth versions of those characters; they didn't get sent to Earth 2 because they didn't not-belong on New Earth (Huntress mentioned that the Earth 2 Jay Garrick was still around, though retired as the Flash).

Conspicuous by his absence was Henry King, Jr./Brainwave II; I wonder if he'll turn up later? (hopefully not as a villain; I always liked him)

I didn't catch Brainwave's no-show... kind-of unnerving for me now that you mention it... I've disliked the character since he erased Lyta's memories of her parents (and yes, I realize it had to be done so that Lyta could survive in a post-Crisis world) in INFINITY INC # 27... my brief review of which you can read HERE: Kewl moments of Comics Past

Whoah, Brainwave. Bet he's behind the 2nd Power Girl. That's right up his dad's alley!

Their mutual attraction was a plot point in the HUNTRESS back-up series collected in a recent trade. Johns is clearly riffing off of this.

He isn't clueless; he, like everyone else, has assumed she's chosen someone else.

I finally got this yesterday.

First, it's so great to see all my Infinitor friends again. It would have been cliché, but I kind of was hoping there would be a scene where Karen told most of the gathered heroes "In my world...you're all...dead!" On the other hand, I think that would have taken away from the downcast faces expressing grief over the death of Kal-L.

Still, the Infinitors have, collectively, received some of the worst treatment of any of DC's characters. At some point, every one of them has turned evil, lost their powers, died, or some combination thereof. Poor Hector has died three times!

It is always such a treat to see Jerry Ordway's art. He draws the definitive Jennie-Lynn and Lyta. I loved the new designs for Hector and Norda's outfits.

Rick and Sand are both missing from the gathering, which then makes Todd the only character who is a regular in the JSA book who appears in this annual--other than Karen herself. It will be interesting to see how he will be treated here.

I'm looking forward to whatever happens next.

Well, I thought the annual was great. Poor Power Girl.

But really, seeing those Infinitors, and especially the Atom, giving a real sense of continuation of Earth-2, well that was great. Especially by Ordway. It made me think of many of you--those of you who truly knew Earth-2, rather than I, who only knew of it through back issues in the years after Crisis. It made me really feel good for those fans.

What I like the most is the idea that Earth-2, and all the other 'main' Earths, still exist, as if Crisis happened and they continued on thereafter. So Earths 2, 4, S and X never were destroyed, and essentially, only Earth-1 was changed post-Crisis to a 'new Earth' (unless Earth-1 exists somewhere, which I can't help but does, which would really be cool).

But I agree with Doublechinner--Geoff does a good job of showing you can't go home again. I'd rather read about the current JSA as it exists now, than a continuation of Earth-2. But I'm just really glad Earth-2 exists as it once was, surviving the Crisis. That's comforting.

JSA #18: Magog finally debuts. With little to no surprise.

Hawkman's narration communicated the recent blunt violence of the character well. I wonder how many times over the years Hawks and Jay have had 'discussions'?

Like Secret Invasion in the Savage Land, this story seems stalled.

I'm not intrigued by a Damage/Judomaster pairing (she bores me), but I liked the page that had her doing a split while eyeing Grant as he makes a bit of a fool of himself. LOVE the panel of Ma Hunkel tucking a still-slumbering Sandman into bed. "It doesn't matter how you're getting a good night's sleep, Sandy, you take it." Wise woman, that.

Unless, of course, he can't wake up.

Power Girl's story from the annual continues here, with her making a surprise visit to a member of the regular JSA cast's unsuperheroic counterpart on Earth-whatever.

Have there been any hints about what sort of story will be coming *after* Gog/Magog/Kingdom Come Revisited?

I don't know. It seems like they have enough to deal with for the next 6 months.

Yeah, no surprize who Magog turned out to be.

I am liking Amazing Man.

For after this story-line, I'd like to see a couple of 2 issue stories focusing on just a few of the members, specifically the new members.

It's good to see Thom without the schizophrenia (and the mask).

I wonder how long that'll last?

From CBR: Eaglesham Talks \'JSA\'

And I wonder if being schizoid is why Stuey won't show his face...?

[rips off mask to reveal... <STAY TUNED>]

I'd like to see that too. Has he had three lines since being cured? There seemed to be some big portent of Doom he recognised the instant he was cured, but there hasn't been anything mentioned and he hasn't done anything since.

Umm... when Gog created Magog.... what did he do with his PANTS?

And Gog said: Nice pants!

Apparently, we won't find out Thom's "true mission" until the JSA Kingdom Come Special: The Kingdom (boy, what a mouthful!), scheduled for November 19.

Dunno if the big, ominous secret that's been hinted at relates to that mission or not... but, in any case, it seems odd that he hasn't really said or done anything yet, if indeed there's something important to be said or done.

Even more embarrassingly, Gog failed to make Magog anatomically correct! (We were spared the sight of that, thankfully...)

Apparently, when Gog resurrected him, He left his "little soldier" dead...

His military rank was "lance corporal"... *teehee*

DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL, SOLDIER!

I don't think it's fair to compair tho a meta...

I thought I read somewhere that Geoff Johns (or whoever first came up with the "third smartest" line) said in an interview that he didn't have a specific #1 and #2 in mind -- just that #3 sort of sounded right.

Of course, "smartness" can be measured in many ways. Some who are brilliant at math or science might have no facility for languages or art, and vice versa.

That said, I would think that some good candidates for #1 and #2 would be Lex Luthor, Dr. Sivana, and Bruce Wayne (though honestly, if we was really that smart, he should have been able to figure out the identity of Sue Dibny's killer almost immediately).

By the way, I thought Damage's lines from #18 (see my sig) were among the most laugh-inducing in recent memory.

I can't read them in context (Judomaster caressing Damage's face with a come-hither look, and Damage responding with a $#!T-eating grin) without cracking up!