1. Is there still a giant penny? And if so, where did it come from?
2. So … Barbara Gordon became inspired to become Batgirl, did the Batgirl thing, got shot by the Joker, was paralyzed, recovered from paralysis, and has become Batgirl again? Within, what, a span of four years? Busy girl.
3. Speaking of Babs: is she actually Jim’s daughter again? I mean, as opposed to her being his brother’s daughter whom he adopted, or whatever wackiness that was.
4. Oh, and speaking of the Gordons! Does Batgirl have a brother or not? If so, is it Tony or the creepy Jim Junior? Or maybe Chuck Cunningham?
5. Speaking of five year time –lines… . I guess we are supposed to assume Batman flew solo for one year, had Dick as Robin for, oh, two years, followed, by one of Jason, one of Tim, and now Damien? With none of them being trained while the others were active? That’s… rather a stretch. Or, more accurately, a squunch.
6. Joe Chill, in or out?
7. Can Batman’s semen time-travel? Because, by my estimate, if Damien is really supposed to be Bruce’s son, then he was fathered a minimum of three years before Batman’s career began.
8. Has Harvey Dent become Two-Face yet?
9. This would be a perfect time to re-introduce/ re-vamp the Riddler, don’t you think?
10. Since Ayla and Salu are now lovers (again?), is it safe to assume there was never an Ayla Rannz/ Brin Londo romance?
11. Make up your minds, DC: is it Triplicate Girl with the power to triplicate, or is it Duplicate Girl with the power to make multiple duplicates of herself? Because you have shown me BOTH in the New52.
12. Speaking of romances… has Brainiac 5 ever met Supergirl?
13. So, when I read old JLA stories, should I just mentally replace all occurrences of J’onn’s “martian breath” with Victor’s “white noise cannon”?
14. Speaking of JJ in the JLA; JLA seems to suggest he wasn’t and Stormwatch seems to suggest he was. Pick one.
15. I guess there was no JLA Detroit (which is for the best) any more. But that means…. Vibe can show up again, right? Perhaps in JLI?
16. ZOMG, is Starro something that HAS happened or something that WILL happen?
17. Wait, wait; does the mean that there was never a Snapper Carr? Because, you know, that ALONE would justify the reboot. Heck, it even makes up for stuff like Voodoo or Hawk & Dove.
18. So, if Wonder Woman has been fighting World War II or supervillains in the last five years before her current storyline… what HAS she been doing?! Running a boutique?
19. Did Alfred’s father work for Bruce’s family or not?
20. Was there ever an Arthur Junior? I thinking omitting the whole ‘death of Aquababy’ might be for the best, since a strong case could be made that THAT is when DC Comics turned a corner toward darkness that it’s just now recovering from
21. Does Aquaman have any powers we’ve not yet seen him use? Oh, heck , I’ll just come out and ask it: can he throw waterballs like in the Filmation cartoon? I just really want him to have waterballs.
22. I’m not really sure this is a reboot question, but the recent issue where the Navy rescues Aquaman makes me wonder: shouldn’t the Navy have some person delegated as the point of contact with Aquaman? You know, like how Steve Trevor is the POC for Wonder Woman.
23. Speaking of Diana: London? Really? Why? I need a reason for that.
24. So… Flash has acquired HOW many Rogues in the last FIVE years? Things really DO move fast in Central City, don’t they? But surely, not a single ONE of them could have been captured more than once, maybe twice, in that time.
25. My friend Mike the Bartender tells me the identity of Kid Flash in Teen Titans remains a mystery. Surely it CANNOT be Bart, therefore… it’s Wally?
26. I’m a little confused: so, in the last five years, Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, John Stewart, and Kyle Rayner ALL became Green Lanterns? Really, really, really FAMOUS Green Lanterns? Shovel faster.
27. Is there a Metamorpho?
28. Will the Phantom Stranger turn up? Strike that. WHEN and WHERE will the Phantom Stranger turn up? Because little things like universal reboots cannot possibleyaffect the Phantom Stranger.
29. Krypto. It’s been set up; when do we see the other shoe drop?
30. So how long before the idea that the first time Batman met the Joker, the Joker was naked with a knife in his teeth gets retconned? Because that is…well, let’s just call it ‘non-iconic’, shall we?
31. We all know something is coming for Captain Marvel, but what about DC’s other main ‘acquired legacy property’: Plastic Man? You know they won’t let him go unused; Earth-2, perhaps?
32. Spectre; Earth-1 or Earth-2?
33. Wait, so if Axel is currently the Trickster, does that mean that James preceded him, became famous/died-reformed/reformed-died, then…. Aw, heck, what’s the story on the Trickster?
34. Now that Wonder Woman can’t fly (again) does she have an invisible plane?
35. How long has the Martian Manhunter been on earth?
36. Is Jaime Reyes the first Blue Beetle? Was there a Ted Kord (let alone a Dan Garrett)?
37. Whoa, wait, is there a Wonder Girl? Was there ever?
38. Where’s Skeets?
39. Forget about Ray Palmer; WHERE IS JEAN LORING OMG SHE COULD BE BEHIND YOU RIGHT NOW!!!!!
40. Given that Captain Cold used to use a cold gun and he now is internalizing the power… maybe we can do without Mister Freeze, who always seemed like didn’t fit in in Batman’s world?
41. Is there now—or has there ever been—a JLA headquarters?
42. Etta Candy: next Sensational Character Find of 2013 or Embarrassing and Forgotten Fat Funny Sidekick Never to be Seen Again?
43. Since it seems impossible for there to be a Static without someone mentioning Black Lightning, is there no Black Lightning?
44. How did Deadman get dead again? I mean, how clumsy can you be and still be a circus aerialist?
45. Does the presence of Robotman in My Greatest Adventure mean there was no Doom Patrol? And if there was no Doom Patrol who put Cliff’s brain in a robot?
46. So, if that’s the Shade, with his own miniseries… um. He certainly was never a supervillain fighting Jay Garrick. For that matter, there never was a Jack Knight Starman because there never was a Ted Knight Starman. So the Shade is, essentially, a literary shadow being cast by...nothing?
47. How could Bette Kane possibly have had a past career as Flamebird in the Teen Titans? That’s…. I just don’t see how that could happen.
48. Speaking of sidekicks… Aqualad? Is there/was there one? I’d hate to lose Kalduhr, but it might be worth if there never was a big-headed purple-eyed freak like Garth either….
And now… you get to add four questions of YOUR OWN to make it 52…!!!
38 comments:
Will the Secret Six ever get to come back?
Oo, good one.
49) Based on Booster's comments in JLI #6, the JLA has had five years to train together. What the what?! Does that mean the JLA formed the instant the reboot happened?
50) Voodoo. Why?
51) Can we make Ted Kord the "Batman" of Earth-2, complete with a "Blue Beetle: Incorporated" franchise? Cause I'd read that in a heartbeat.
52) Finally, the one I think a lot of people are asking: What the heck happened to Renee Montoya?
Interesting take on Blue Beetle, Misfit...! Although there already WILL have been a Batman on Earth-2 (he's the father of the Huntress), it would be amusing to have Ted Kord be like the Silver Age Batman, a little more light-hearted with lots of "beetle-gadgets" and wacky villains.
As for Montoya; well, that's an intentional mystery as opposed to Something Nobody Seems to Have Thought About.
While it continues to amaze me that no one at DC seemed to realize that thinning the herd of Robins and Earth-born Green Lanterns should have been the first thing to do with the reboot, am I correct in assuming that Barbara Gordon was now the only Batgirl (unless Morrison's reimagining of the original Batwoman still counts, and Bette Kane may once again have been the original Bat-Girl)?
-comicsnorth
I can only assume that Triplicate Girl and Duplicate Girl, all used to be Quintuplet Girl, who after an encounter with Flaccid Lad, decided the Hell with it...or something.
I too wonder what happened to Skeets. Because I miss him terribly. And Rip Hunter. And...and L-Ron. Hell, I miss Max Lord too...the REAL one.
And I want Ted Kord back in any way possible. Heck, I'd like the real Jaime back too.
Hey - not really pertinent to the post precisely, but did you see that Vibe will be making an appearance in animated form in one of the DC Nation shorts?
http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/2012/02/21/first-look-supergirl-wonder-girl-and-batgirl-from-dc-nation-shorts/
If you read the scanned article at that link, they mention him along with Doctor Fate and Black Lightning as lesser known characters who will get a spotlight.
RE: 27 & 31. Metamorpho and Plastic Man were seen in JLI #1.
Was Guy Gardner ever the incubator of the Vuldarian race?
Has Ice ever died, much less come back to life?
No Jade, no Donna Troy, no Major Force... is Kyle Rayner still dating Alex DeWitt? And does this mean that the world has never heard of "women in refrigerators?"
If the JSA and Wally West don't exist, does that mean that we have no idea who Geoff Johns is?
No Questions at this time, but a few Answers: (Though we skip around)
1: From the untold adventure “Bruce and the Beanstalk”.
2: Transfused Mutant Healing Factor.
5: When Batman sets a training schedule, he SETS a training schedule!
6: “Chill in or out?” Depends on the quality of the insulation.
7: Ask Professor Carter Nichols!
24: He’s “The Flash”. ‘Nuff Said!
30: Ret-Con it! It’s just plain wrong!
Oh, wait… I have a question. When does a “Crisis” come along and set everything back to 1985 – or better yet, the nineties, when I really loved these comics?
Great Stuff!
(1) Thanks, anonymous! I did NOT know that, and will be writing on it soon.
(2) Boosterific; gosh, you are right I have forgotten they were in the video montage in the background. And GREAT point about Kyle's background; that's most of his backstory gone!
8. The answer would seem to be 'yes'.
14. I think J'onn explained that one in a more recent Stormwatch. He wasn't in the JLA.
25. Mike the bartender is wrong. Kid Flash has identified himself as Bart Allen.
48. I seem to recall 'Garth' was mentioned in Red Hood and the Outsiders #1, when Roy was quizzing Starfire about their mutual Titans friends.
Candid:
8. Have you seen/heard of him... or is that just the answer your Magic Eightball gave you, LOL?
14. Really? VERY interesting. Then when they give up on Stormwatch, there's a chance he'll join.
25. REALLY? That's... hard to wrap my head around.
48. Ugh!
Okay, I'll play:
1. What happened to Hawkgirl/Hawkwoman?
2. Godiva's in the JLI. Does that mean the Global Guardians still exist? (Because I always liked the thought of them.)
3. I don't want to forget Ray Palmer -- was he the Atom or not? And can we get Ryan Choi back?
4. There's a new Ray, who alluded to an old Ray maybe. Was there an old Ray? What about the rest of the Freedom Fighters? 'Cause if no one was active before Superman, then ...
Man, you start to pull on these strings and things really start to come apart, don't they? Do you suppose anybody sat down and put together a New 52 bible before all this started? If so (and I'm betting the answer is no based on what I've seen) can we get a copy?
"Speaking of Babs: is she actually Jim’s daughter again?"
Babs' narration, on re-meeting her once-absent mother, showed no sign of any of those overcomplications, so hopefully they've been streamlined away, hopefully along with the brother(s). Since Jim now seemingly doesn't know about her secret career(s), apparently a lot has changed.
"Has Harvey Dent become Two-Face yet?"
He was in that melee at the start of Batman #1.
14. JJ in the JLA;
CandidGamera beat me to this, but yeah, Stormwatch backpedaled on that in #6, p.14
16. Starro: "something that HAS happened or something that WILL happen?"
Also: are there going to be two parallel versions of him again, that never get mentioned in the same story, a purple squirmy one and a green stiff one?
21. Aquaman's waterballs:
He's teamed up with a hot redhead who can do that.
22. "shouldn’t the Navy have some person delegated as the point of contact with Aquaman? "
It sadly looks as if the Navy doesn't yet take Aquaman seriously enough to do that. Yet. They'll learn, though.
26. "in the last five years, Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, John Stewart, and Kyle Rayner ALL became Green Lanterns? Really, really, really FAMOUS Green Lanterns?"
They were, maybe, off-planet when the Flashpoint reboot happened, so it affected them differently ... nah, that just opens whole new cans of worms. More like 55-gal drums of worms. Never mind.
Can anyone REALLY keep this crap straight? And why should it matter if they're going to keep changing it?
DC stopped making sense somewhere between Crisis and the Byrne Superman ruination.
Wait ... so ... it was making sense BEFORE that?
I think I read "somewhere online" that Batman is the exception to the 5-year rule, and has been operating for quite a bit longer in secrecy. He was an urban legend at first, and only came out of hiding when the other superheroes started showing up. Which is a pretty flimsy pretext for not simply throwing out a couple of superflouos Robins, but what are you gonna do?
"no one at DC seemed to realize that thinning the herd of Robins and Earth-born Green Lanterns should have been the first thing to do with the reboot"
They're afraid to rock the boat too much or take away anyone's favorites, which is not an attitude that lends itself well to streamlining.
It's the reason we've got silliness like Batgirl's Back But Don't Worry She Was Still Crippled And Oracle And Then She Got Better.
Are we gonna get to see a scar-faced space-hoping green bounty hunter named J'onn Hex?
7. Can Batman’s semen time-travel?
Under Grant Morrison's pen, I wouldn't be shocked if it could.
8. Has Harvey Dent become Two-Face yet?
As pointed out, he's in the brawl in Batman #1. He also shows up in Batman: The Dark Knight #1, so it's clearly happened. I suppose you weren't reading Dark Knight though, which is very understandable, since it's terrible.
25. Who is Kid Flash?
It's said explicitly in the beginning of either Teen Titans #3 or Teen Titans #4 that it's Bart. And that he can't remember anything from more than a few months ago, so his origin appears to be scrapped. We can't even be sure that he's still from the future. But I don't get using Bart either, given how mired his back-story was in early '80s Flash. The only reason not to make it Wally is that the current generation of Titans are off-model versions of Bart's generation, not Wally's.
28. Will the Phantom Stranger turn up? Strike that. WHEN and WHERE will the Phantom Stranger turn up? Because little things like universal reboots cannot possibly affect the Phantom Stranger.
ROFL.
36. Is Jaime Reyes the first Blue Beetle? Was there a Ted Kord (let alone a Dan Garrett)?
They've been very unclear about that. I think it's safe to say that Dan Garrett is gone, given how Jaime got the scarab in post-Flashpoint continuity. Or at least his history is his Fox history, not his Charlton history. Ted they've been careful not to say either way. I think Tony Bedard has said that in his mind Ted's out there somewhere, but they're focusing on Jaime for now. Which is more of a dodge than an answer, to me.
41. Is there now—or has there ever been—a JLA headquarters?
I would guess that there is a headquarters, and that it will show up when the JLA book moves into the present day.
44. How did Deadman get dead again? I mean, how clumsy can you be and still be a circus aerialist?
Well, he was shot. The first time, at least. The second time I think it was a consequence of the White Lantern. Check Brightest Day #24, it happened there. I just don't remember, and I don't have the comic on me.
47. How could Bette Kane possibly have had a past career as Flamebird in the Teen Titans? That’s…. I just don’t see how that could happen.
It depends on how many Teen Titans incarnations were retconned. DC I think has implied that they meant it to be all of them. Lobdell has been acting as if it was only the Johns-era Titans, and the Silver Age, Bronze Age, and New Teen Titans are still more or less in continuity. Somehow. Yeah, I don't get this either. The Titans, as always, are a great way of isolating the gigantic holes in DC continuity.
And one I forgot.
37. Whoa, wait, is there a Wonder Girl? Was there ever?
There is a character called Wonder Girl in the current Teen Titans. It's a, shall we say, altered version of Cassie Sandsmark. She has superpowers, but nobody's said anything about being a demi-goddess yet, and she's a thief who goes around the country stealing ancient artifacts. So obviously the pre-Flashpoint Cassie Sandsmark is gone, but that's how it is for all of the Johns-era Titans, except for Red Robin, who had Bat-protection.
As to Donna Troy, nothing can be said for certain. DC hasn't said she doesn't exist, but they haven't said she does. What they've said is that they don't want to use her and Wally West for the time being because they would age their mentors and be redundant.
And to the person above who asked if there was a New 52 Bible of some sort, Eddie Berganza said that he had a time-line worked out, that it was sitting on his desk, and that nobody outside of DC's offices would ever get to see it. Why DC wouldn't want to rework it into something publishable and release it as a new version of The History of the DC Universe, I don't know. But I doubt the time-line is very coherent anyway, given the amount of holes in what DC's shown us that can be pointed out.
Answers I am pulling out of an undisclosed location:
1) If Babs is Jim Gordon's daughter, then crazy older brother Jim Jr can't be in continuity. Bruce Wayne was already Batmanning before Jim Jr was born, which was before Babs was born, so Bruce wouldn't be the only one with time-traveling semen. (I'm not really sure he was much in continuity before anyway; he appeared in "Year One" and Snyder's run the other year, and that's it. Easy to dismiss as an unlabeled Elseworld.)
2) Did the Pennyworths work for the Waynes? Trick question; the New 52 version of Alfred Pennyworth is from Bizarro World, and I can prove it with the latest issue of "Nightwing":
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzkhig5TSC1qcuzdqo1_500.jpg
It's not just that he's in casual clothes, which is Bizarro-Alfred to begin with. But note also that his shirt is BACKWARDS. Nonetheless, Bizarro or no, a proper gentleman speaks well and speaks clearly.
I see someone else got to mention Two-Face in Dark Knight. I will add that Teen Titans #6, out this week, further clarifies Kid Flash's identity.
I only have one question for DC.
DID YOU LEARN NOTHING FROM THE YEARS IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE FIRST CRISIS????
Apparently not.
Imitorar: "The Titans, as always, are a great way of isolating the gigantic holes in DC continuity."
A proud tradition going back to the very beginning, when for some reason Wonder Girl was able to be on the team but Superboy was not.
"It's said explicitly in the beginning of either Teen Titans #3 or Teen Titans #4 that it's Bart. And that he can't remember anything from more than a few months ago, so his origin appears to be scrapped. We can't even be sure that he's still from the future."
Per Titans #6, not only is Bart from the future (although he doesn't remember it), it appears he's a fugitive from justice from the future.
And what happened to the Crime Syndicate of Earth-3/the Anti-Matter Universe/Wherever?
"As to Donna Troy, nothing can be said for certain. DC hasn't said she doesn't exist, but they haven't said she does. What they've said is that they don't want to use her and Wally West for the time being because they would age their mentors and be redundant."
Ah HA! Now I think I see where they are headed...
we will in fact see Donna and Wally again...
on EARTH-2, where there are the inheritors of that Earth's original Wonder Woman and Flash.
Glad to see you back! I was afraid something like what you stated (actually worse!) might have happened. But this IS a most un-scipio post. Hope to see you back in full form soon! :)
Now what handle do I use? I am too old for handles but posting my true name is, err embarrassing. :)
the guy who asked about the bad boyfriend quote)
Interesting theory, Scipio. It's actually an excellent idea -- set up a whole universe to handle fan service. If true, Earth 2 may become my default DC Universe, and they can keep nuDC.
So, if DC dropped Donna and Wally "because they would age their mentors and be redundant," then why the heck did they keep four Robins in continuity?
@Scipio: Yeah, a lot of people think Wally and Donna will show up on Earth 2. Personally, I'm pretty sure that Wally at least won't, since they mentioned Jay in the solicit for Earth 2 #1. That doesn't mean Wally isn't there, but it does mean that he's likely not the primary Flash. Or maybe Jay will be there but retired, and Wally will be primary Flash. But I don't think DC would do it.
And as much as I like Wally, I don't want them to. I think that separating Wally from Barry changes his backstory so much as to make him a different character. Donna, well, I don't think Donna ever HAD much character except under Wolfman, and maybe some other Wonder Woman writers, such as Jimenez and Simone. But what character she did have was rooted in her history. And if you take a character's history away, are they anything more than a name and a design?
@Steve Mitchell: Bat-protection. Batman books sold well, so DC didn't want to mess with them, and devil take the consequences of squeezing all that story into five years. I'm just saying over what DC's said about its own actions. I"m definitely not defending DC's actions.
31. "... but what about DC’s other main ‘acquired legacy property’: Plastic Man? You know they won’t let him go unused;"
They didn't let Blackhawk go unused. Alas.
Boosterrific: "Was Guy Gardner ever the incubator of the Vuldarian race?"
A DCUniversal reboot seems like the ideal time to undo that travesty, hopefully as part of a more comprehensive de-DeMatteis-ification of the DCU. Failing that, a g'no G'nort rule needs to be strictly enforced.
Edit: Wikipedia tells me I'm wrong to blame DeMatteis for the Vuldarian thing, but I still like the term "deDeMatteisification" too much to leave it out.
Scipio @ 40, wielding Occam's Razor "maybe we can do without Mister Freeze,"
Related question: If there needs to be a DC supervillain who "was" the legendary Old Man of the Mountain, Hasan ibn Sabah, (and there does), WHY should it be anybody BUT Ra's al-Ghul? He's indeterminably old, he's Persian, he usually lives on a mountain, and he has an army of assassins. Can't "Khyber" go back to the department of redundancy department?
Belated related question: One look at The Sensei is all it takes to tell you that he was born and raised in Sinanju, North Korea, yet ever since Batman #671 Jan 2008, we've been expected to believe that he's LITERALLY the father of the very Persian looking Ra's al-Ghul, thus the grandfather of Talia, thus the great-grandfather of Damian al-Wayne, NONE OF WHOM even slightly look like him. Would this not be a good time for the "father" thing to go back to being a figure of speech?
RE: 41 answered! TEEN TITANS 6 states that the JLA have a satellite. Again.
Many good questions, but I think the whole idea behind the New 52 was to dump all that continuity. There is no more shared continuity, just shared characters.
Huh. Looks like Phantom Stranger is back in Justice League #6. So that question is answered.
#49. WHY WHY WHY, DC, are you recreating the headaches of 1987 (post-Crisis continuity)????????
#50. WHY WHY WHY, DC, are you recreating the headaches of 1995 (post-Zero Hour)??????????? "Everybody's 5 years into their careers... but we're keeping more back stories than will fit in just 5 years..."
#51. WHY WHY WHY, DC, do you insist on making your comics worthless? All that energy, and all my money, put into the Identiy Crisis to Infinite Crisis megastoryline was simply thrown away. You keep burning your fans, DC, how long will that last? (Seriously, I hesitate to buy anything from DC anymore.)
#52. Is there ANY reason I should believe there won't be ANOTHER reboot or continuity adjustment 5 years from now?
1) How old is Garth. 2) Who are in the team Roy speaks off in Red Hood and The Outlaws 3) Is Shayera Hol existent 4) Is Mon-El being shown somewhere currently
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