Well! I was right... Earth-2 is the title to watch!
This issue gave us the origin of the Earth-2 Green Lantern, Alan Scott (see preceding post for information about Alan, in song).
Now, What Kids Don't Know about this story would be....it's same as his origin in the Golden Age. Alan Scott was the sole survivor of a train wreck, after which he had a brief but exposition-filled conversation with a talking green flame. But author James Robinson puts some very clever twists on this version (particularly the origin of Alan's ring).
I kind of teared up at the whole ring thing.. .but Alan sure didn't. I was a little taken aback by how quickly and coolly Alan moved from "I'm badly injured and my lover is dead" to "Ah ha, I see; I appear to having my origin story now; got it." On the other hand... (1) Alan is the powerful head of an international multi-billion dollar communications company and (2) Golden Age heroes ALWAYS recovered lickety-split from whatever horrible origin-tragedy befell them and got right into the "Whee! I have powers! Time to kick some ass!" phase of things.
But mark my words. We--and Alan-- have not seen the last of Sam. Even though Sam is very very dead.
Where Robinson REALLY floored me was the reveal at the end. I was ready for lots of things: I was NOT ready for that. In fact, I was so not ready for that, that I literally stopped breathing for 30 minutes out of shock. Then I gasped, and not just for lack of oxygen. Honestly, I cannot recalled when I was so simply stunned by a comic's end.
But be clear: I was not shocked because "I didn't see that coming." I was shocked because I could have seen it coming, I should have seen it coming, but I still didn't, so ingrained in me by popular culture are certain preconceptions about certain characters. NOW, thanks to Robinson, it all makes perfect sense, and the Earth-2 Green Lantern has a perfect set-up.
Bravo, James Robinson; I'm not an easy man to strike out with a curve ball; bravo.
Aspects of Green Lantern's new origin kind of remind me of the approach that Stan Lee took with his "Just Imagine" version of GL.
ReplyDeleteAnd wow, a black Polish Hawkgirl (or just a black Hawkgirl in Poland, not sure yet), and Dr. Fate (or just Fate, not sure yet) mentioned in passing.
This is all building up very nicely.
I'm certainly intrigued enough to keep reading. I'm fine with Alan's revised origin, though I was kinda hoping it would be more like Power Ring's in the Crime Syndicate -- a magical entity from, ideally, the Fifth Dimension (kinda like your H Dial theory) who occupies a lantern/ring. I'm not sure why Alan would be called Green Lantern at this point. Costume's kinda blah, though.
ReplyDeleteYeah, no cape, Alan? C'mon, you're supposed to be GAY.
ReplyDeleteHey Scipio? I happened to be watching this today, and I thought of you:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgzvTHsOxSQ
My initial thought: all these well-built half-naked sailors could be perfectly happy without dames, if they just used their imaginations for a second. C'mon guys, the solution is literally standing right in front of you.
Then I realized it was a bunch of half-naked sailors singing a show tune together, and suddenly it hit me: they're all very gay already, but none of them dares to be the first to admit it. So they're going on and on about how much they enjoy vagina, while Ray Walston is wearing a kerchief, another guy advertises himself as "Stew Pot", and there is a hair salon right there on the beach. And when the nurses actually show up, there is no interest in interacting with them, just a prompt return to show tunes as soon as the coast is clear.
I don't have a good way to tie this to "Earth 2" #3, but like I said, this seemed to be something you need to know about.
I just checked out Earth 2 #3 to verify if this is truly a reboot of the Golden Age. Since it does verify that to me... I'm done with investing in any future issues of them. I could care less about a second Jay Garrick in DC history... we already had one. Don't need another.
ReplyDeleteAm I wrong in that Jay Garrick's boots look exactly like Hawkgirl's? (The soles, I mean.) Aside from that, I'm liking it, though I really am tired of covers with characters screaming in rage.
ReplyDeleteDidio LIED. He said an established characters was coming out as gay.
ReplyDeleteThis Alan Scott is NOT the established character. All-new character with all-new continuity in an all-new universe. This character has existed now for exactly 3 issues.
That seems like splitting hairs to me. Just because Alan Scott got rebooted and this is a new take on him doesn't make him "all-new", by any means.
ReplyDeleteThough the flame clearly says, "You're a lantern," giving him his name, I did like the idea in the original origin that the ring was just a way to carry a teeny, tiny bit of flame from the lantern.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, so far, so good. I'm dropping a number of other 52 titles, but I'm glad that this and World's Finest fill in a little bit.
This Alan Scott is the same as the old Alan Scott in the same way that Byrne's rebooted Superman is the same as Siegel and Schuster's Superman.
ReplyDeleteThey are NOT the same.
Different continuities, different universes, just plain DIFFERENT.
And really, saying "reboot" doesn't "by any means" mean "all-new" is a silly, flimsy argument to make.
DC restarts an entire universe and its continuity entirely separated from the original, and you say it's not new "by any means."
ReplyDeleteUnbelievable.