I've never read any Earth 2 stuff before, and James Robinson blew me away with the Shade so I thought I'd check this out. I was just wondering

• Have Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman always been dead in Earth 2?
• Were they ever part of the Justice League or JLA or whatever its called in Earth 2?
• Is this a brand new continuity? I just mean that some of the new 52 books have pretty much started fresh while others have kept everything, which is this?

Great first issue I thought...

This is a complete reboot of Earth-2.

Before this reboot, Earth-2 was the home of the Golden Age characters and continuity.

Basically, everything published between 1938 and 1956 took place on Earth-2. With the apparition of Barry Allen and Hal Jordan, DC changed of reality. Ever since the Silver Age, the stories take place on another Earth called Earth-1/New Earth.

But Earth-2 characters still existed and made occasional appearances, through crossovers and later, their own series (JSA, Infinity Inc and All Star Squadron for instance).

Earth-2 Batman died in the late 70's. In 1986 Earth-2 Wonder-Woman disappeared with Earth-2 during Crisis and Earth-2 Superman died in 2005 in Infinite Crisis. And yes, they were members of the JSA (the equivalent of the JLA on Earth-2).

In the rebooted Earth-2, Robinson killed the Trinity so that he could focus on the other Earth-2 characters.

Yes this is a new continuity.

I don't know what you mean as to have they always been dead. The series is only one issue in and it was pretty clear that they'd been around for at least a while seeing as how Batman has a kid, Superman and Wonder Woman are known heroes, they know each other, so on and so forth.

I doubt that there was a Justice League or a Justice Society [which is what it'll be called, I think], seeing as how when they were fighting the Parademons and died in battle and Robin and Supergirl disappeared they claimed the world lost all of it's superheroes. So, unless they considered themselves the Justice Society then I don't think so. Then again, I don't know.

@feargalr said:

• Have Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman always been dead in Earth 2?
• Were they ever part of the Justice League or JLA or whatever its called in Earth 2?
• Is this a brand new continuity? I just mean that some of the new 52 books have pretty much started fresh while others have kept everything, which is this?

Great first issue I thought...

In previous iterations of Earth-2, they have not always been dead. They were in fact almost completely different characters (who did all die, but separately, and at varying ages from varying causes). The assumption I've made is that they were all that was left of the Justice League, and that the League's foundation was basically ruined by the planet's general destruction. This does appear to be a brand new continuity, making major alterations to the concept, the characters and the storyline relating to them, with only the most basic elements remaining the same (presumably that Jay Garrick, Alan Scott and Al Pratt will all don their costumes to become their known alter egos).

I agree that it was a great first issue, always glad when I'm not the only one!

@iLLituracy said:

Yes this is a new continuity.

I don't know what you mean as to have they always been dead. The series is only one issue in and it was pretty clear that they'd been around for at least a while seeing as how Batman has a kid, Superman and Wonder Woman are known heroes, they know each other, so on and so forth.

I doubt that there was a Justice League or a Justice Society [which is what it'll be called, I think], seeing as how when they were fighting the Parademons and died in battle and Robin and Supergirl disappeared they claimed the world lost all of it's superheroes. So, unless they considered themselves the Justice Society then I don't think so. Then again, I don't know.

I meant were Bats, Supes and Wonder Woman always dead in previous Earth 2 continuity

@feargalr said:

@iLLituracy said:

Yes this is a new continuity.

I don't know what you mean as to have they always been dead. The series is only one issue in and it was pretty clear that they'd been around for at least a while seeing as how Batman has a kid, Superman and Wonder Woman are known heroes, they know each other, so on and so forth.

I doubt that there was a Justice League or a Justice Society [which is what it'll be called, I think], seeing as how when they were fighting the Parademons and died in battle and Robin and Supergirl disappeared they claimed the world lost all of it's superheroes. So, unless they considered themselves the Justice Society then I don't think so. Then again, I don't know.

I meant were Bats, Supes and Wonder Woman always dead in previous Earth 2 continuity

Their first fifteen years of publication took place on Earth-2 so obviously not.

This reboot is a complete destruction of everything Earth-2 and the JSA were supposed to represent (an homage to DC's past and the very idea of legacies in the DCU).

@DarthShap said:

@feargalr said:

@iLLituracy said:

Yes this is a new continuity.

I don't know what you mean as to have they always been dead. The series is only one issue in and it was pretty clear that they'd been around for at least a while seeing as how Batman has a kid, Superman and Wonder Woman are known heroes, they know each other, so on and so forth.

I doubt that there was a Justice League or a Justice Society [which is what it'll be called, I think], seeing as how when they were fighting the Parademons and died in battle and Robin and Supergirl disappeared they claimed the world lost all of it's superheroes. So, unless they considered themselves the Justice Society then I don't think so. Then again, I don't know.

I meant were Bats, Supes and Wonder Woman always dead in previous Earth 2 continuity

Their first fifteen years of publication took place on Earth-2 so obviously not.

This reboot is a complete destruction of everything Earth-2 and the JSA were supposed to represent (an homage to DC's past and the very idea of legacies in the DCU).

Not a fan then... hmm. Well I liked it, just because they're doing something new now doesn't mean the old stories aren't still great stories you can go back and read. I haven't read them but there seems to be a lot of Earth 2 fans so there must be something to them, plus this is only 1 issue in, give the series some time.

@feargalr said:

@DarthShap said:

Their first fifteen years of publication took place on Earth-2 so obviously not.

This reboot is a complete destruction of everything Earth-2 and the JSA were supposed to represent (an homage to DC's past and the very idea of legacies in the DCU).

Not a fan then... hmm. Well I liked it, just because they're doing something new now doesn't mean the old stories aren't still great stories you can go back and read. I haven't read them but there seems to be a lot of Earth 2 fans so there must be something to them, plus this is only 1 issue in, give the series some time.

It is great that you liked it. The execution was great, a thousand times better than Justice League. Very emotional, good storytelling, awesome art. If you know nothing about Earth-2, you will have a blast. Now consider that maybe the reason why you like it is because you have obviously never read anything related to Earth-2 before.

The reason why I did not was because the reboot of this particular universe goes against everything the universe itself was supposed to be about.

Superman is supposed to be about an alien who fights for "truth, justice and the American way". Batman is supposed to be this dark detective who sorts of lost his mind after the death of his parents and swore revenge against Crime itself. Likewise, Earth-2 is supposed to be about continuing the Golden Age stories and the JSA is supposed to be about legacies.

When you do not respect the most basic concept of a series, you just are not doing a very good job.

I still don't understand your question because "were they always dead in Earth-2?" doesn't really make sense to me.

Earth-2 just started.

If you're referring to the old Earth-2 prior to Crisis on Infinite Earths, no, I'm pretty sure all of them were alive.

But this Earth-2 isn't that Earth-2, it's a completely different story and continuity in the same way Earth-1 isn't the old DC Universe prior to CoIE or even what it was before Flashpoint.

So it shouldn't really deter your opinion on what you're reading, because the only similarities between the original Earth-2 and this Earth-2 is the fact that it's a parallel world to the mainstream universe and the characters are based off of the Golden Age/Silver Age continuation of those characters [Huntress, Power Girl, Alan Scott, Jay Garrick, etc.]

@DarthShap said:

This is a complete reboot of Earth-2.

Before this reboot, Earth-2 was the home of the Golden Age characters and continuity.

Basically, everything published between 1938 and 1956 took place on Earth-2. With the apparition of Barry Allen and Hal Jordan, DC changed of reality. Ever since the Silver Age, the stories take place on another Earth called Earth-1/New Earth.

But Earth-2 characters still existed and made occasional appearances, through crossovers and later, their own series (JSA, Infinity Inc and All Star Squadron for instance).

Earth-2 Batman died in the late 70's. In 1986 Earth-2 Wonder-Woman disappeared with Earth-2 during Crisis and Earth-2 Superman died in 2005 in Infinite Crisis. And yes, they were members of the JSA (the equivalent of the JLA on Earth-2).

In the rebooted Earth-2, Robinson killed the Trinity so that he could focus on the other Earth-2 characters.

Wow. I mean WOW. This was very informative and concise. Thanks a bunch! I've never read any pre-crisis D.C material, so to have something like this to read was rather entertaining. Can you explain to me, how is it that characters like Jay Garrick and Alan Scott consider New Earth their universe, yet Power Girl does not?

@royale_with_cheese said:

@DarthShap said:

This is a complete reboot of Earth-2.

Before this reboot, Earth-2 was the home of the Golden Age characters and continuity.

Basically, everything published between 1938 and 1956 took place on Earth-2. With the apparition of Barry Allen and Hal Jordan, DC changed of reality. Ever since the Silver Age, the stories take place on another Earth called Earth-1/New Earth.

But Earth-2 characters still existed and made occasional appearances, through crossovers and later, their own series (JSA, Infinity Inc and All Star Squadron for instance).

Earth-2 Batman died in the late 70's. In 1986 Earth-2 Wonder-Woman disappeared with Earth-2 during Crisis and Earth-2 Superman died in 2005 in Infinite Crisis. And yes, they were members of the JSA (the equivalent of the JLA on Earth-2).

In the rebooted Earth-2, Robinson killed the Trinity so that he could focus on the other Earth-2 characters.

Wow. I mean WOW. This was very informative and concise. Thanks a bunch! I've never read any pre-crisis D.C material, so to have something like this to read was rather entertaining. Can you explain to me, how is it that characters like Jay Garrick and Alan Scott consider New Earth their universe, yet Power Girl does not?

In Crisis/Zero Hour, the Golden Age heroes (Garrick, Scott and co...) were RetConned as WWII veterans of New Earth. It was possible because there were no Earth-1 Garrick and Scott. Hawkman was RetConned to reincarnate and the Trinity RetConned never to have participated in WWII.

Power Girl was problematic because she was a Kryptonian and related to Earth-II Superman. As such, she could not be RetConned into anything (unlike Huntress who just became someone else but it was easy to do because she did not have Kryptonian superpowers) and as result she litterally became a living inconsistency of the DCU "the piece that can never fit" in a way.