Review by C.J. Bunce
Spoilers!
James Robinson was able to do with his first issue in Wave 2 of DC Comics’s New 52 what the other DC Justice League creators didn’t do in the initial launch–he created an exciting and interesting play on the DC universe. And with Paul Levitz they have re-ignited the superhero books when it seemed like the titles across the board were wavering a bit.
Robinson’s Earth 2 takes DC back to its origins up through the 1980s when characters traversed parallel universes before there were all the myriad multiverses in the DCU with series in the 2000s, such as that found in the weekly series titled 52. Levitz switched up the classic DC title known for Batman and Superman team-ups–World’s Finest, flipping the apostrophe to account for the parallel worlds into the new Worlds’ Finest.
You can’t read one title without the other. Issue #1 of Worlds’ Finest nudges Earth 2 only a bit because of its focus on a new Huntress and Power Girl, so far missing their own titles in the New 52. But are they really who they appear to be? Back to that in a bit.
I love parallel universe stories, ever since reading the battle between the Earth 1 and Earth 2 superheroes in the pages of Justice League of America as a kid. These two issues brought back all the fun of those earlier stories.
The first book of the parallel DCU is Issue #1 of Earth 2, and you’ve just got to envy Robinson and artist Nicola Scott with what they were allowed to do here–show the death scenes of not one but all of DC’s big three, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Scott even folded in her own versions of the supersuits, which are cooler than the earlier New 52 outfits. But these characters only die on Earth 2 (not our Earth 1) in a battle called the Apokolips War (really, why do they always have to spell it so strangely?) by the leader of some “parademons” under a leader called Steppenwolf (usually with such a unique name you’d have an explanation for it, but neither the band, the novel or the wolf appear to apply here). Regardless, Steppenwolf kills Wonder Woman first, but not before she has an encounter with the God Mercury, followed by the explosive death of Superman. Batman sacrifices himself to blow everything to kingdom come, but not before a sign-off with daughter Helena, presumably his daughter with Catwoman, who is fighting the parademons as Robin, Batman’s sidekick. Supergirl, here Karen Starr from DC’s 1970s, and Helena are part of the explosion and their ongoing story continues in Worlds’ Finest Issue #1.
But Earth 2 continues as we meet the Earth 2‘s Green Lantern (although he doesn’t have that title yet) Alan Scott. And the issue ends as the God Mercury shows up to meet 21-year-old self-described screw-up Jay Garrick. The name for a classic Flash in the DCU, no doubt we can see where Issue #2 will go with this character. The how of showing Justice Society leaders Green Lantern and Flash getting together is well worth looking forward to.
Kudos to DC Comics for putting James Robinson on this title–his Justice League-Cry for Justice, although criticized by some, is one of the best reads from DC in years of limited “Crisis” series featuring the JLA. Robinson can handle the intertwining story elements of something as complex as merging two Earths.
In Worlds’ Finest Issue #1, writer Paul Levitz and artist George Perez pick up the Earth 2 story by following the adventures of Robin and Supergirl as they decide to change their personas on Earth 1 into Huntress and Powergirl. The big question is: What happened to Kara Zor-L, Supergirl of Earth 1 and Helena Bertinelli, Huntress of Earth 1? We know Supergirl is in her own Earth 1 series and Huntress recently finished up a trip to Italy in her own limited series. Will we get to see a Supergirl vs Power Girl battle as we’ve seen in the past? And Worlds’ Finest starts with the mention of Earth 1 Helena Bertinelli’s death. But how?
Worlds’ Finest has great banter and chemistry between Karen and Helena, like we saw in the Gail Simone/Nicola Scott era of Birds of Prey. Here this Worlds’ Finest issue is what I’d hoped for with the New 52 reboot of Birds of Prey. You could easily see Batgirl of the New 52 joining up with these two superheroines at some point. Helena fills the shoes as the Batman clone Huntress very well here–Huntress is at her best when she is written as Batman with a different hairdo and all the detective skill. Karen’s Power Girl is outgoing and fun. not the typical spacey, serious and ethereal Supergirl. But fans of her revealing Power Girl suit note that that outfit is long gone, replaced with a more updated supersuit.
I was pleasantly surprised with these first two issues of the New 52 second wave. The re-hashed origin story that caused me to stop buying Justice League after the first few issues was disappointing, so it is nice to have a similar topic approached in such a refreshing and fun way. Anxiously awaiting the second issues next month!
collects the first six issues of the New 52 series. The series was written by Brian Azzarello, with art by Cliff Chiang on Issues #1-4 and Tony Akins for Issues #5 and 6.
(or the first six pages of the trade paperback, which tends to be what I collect these days) you would see that basic scenario laid out in graphic detail as the Plutonian faces the Hornet. (You can see a free digital preview of these six pages now at
that C.J. Bunce and Art Schmidt mentioned in their 
and 
and make them the soundtrack to a modern spaghetti Western, sort of like Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers with 
. A good 
had his own cartton then interview show, but how about an adaptation of the serious origin series by Joe Kelly? A big budget movie based on Jon Krakauer’s 
could be awesome (the TV version suffered a bit despite a good cast). The Russian story of 
was filmed more than half a century ago with music by Prokofiev, but it needs a good updating. We’ve seen four Tom Clancy novels about Jack Ryan, but the creepiest of the series, 
, has yet to be made.
where Fozzie the Bear offers Big Bird a ride to the west coast to break into movies, and Big Bird says no thanks, he’s trying to break into public television back in New York. Well, apparently they made that movie back in 1985 and I missed it, 
. You can’t know everything.
, you just have to ask DC Comics and the Hollywood machine: Why can’t someone just put it on the big screen?
.” Imagine Black Canary pulling up on her motorcycle. Imagine Green Arrow defending the kid robbing the slumlord. Imagine Green Arrow catching Speedy. Imagine Hal, Ollie and Dinah driving across America in their pick-up truck. And harpies. And encountering a religious cult. And more harpies.
(the first one), 
, and with Fantastic Four’s brilliant realization of Human Torch and The Thing, maybe my favorite heroes to screen so far. OK, they nailed it with Christopher Reeve’s 
and Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson in 
. Hopefully with The Avengers, Marvel Comics sets a new bar that DC Comics will have to work toward with a multi-hero story, maybe even with the Justice League or Superfriends. Art’s recommended 
, which we have 
are too cool to pass up and I have no doubt represent a foreshadowing of the future of film only slightly touched on in the Ralph Fiennes film Strange Days. 
and 
would be great picks.
, which was not a sequel but an entirely new story, Asimov created the world inside a microscope that only he could envision. The book is like Dennis Quaid in Innerspace, but with a serious mission and tone. A group of scientists, such as you would find in the typical multi-disciplined problem solving team from a Michael Crichton novel, shrink themselves down to microscopic size to enter into the brain and try to diagnose the condition of a colleague, Dr. Pyotor Shapirov, the creator of the very technology that finally allows man to transport to such a miniscule size.
. A few years ago I discussed The Ring with Russell and he said it was a great effort to produce it and it became a sort of magnum opus for him. But even an adaptation of Russell’s adaptation would need streamlined for mainstream audiences—yet, it would be a great starting point. Predating that other famous fantasy ring series (the one by J.R.R. Tolkien) by decades, Wagner’s opera is epic in scope and length, taking four nights or 15 hours to perform the full opera. We already have a superb soundtrack from Wagner, but can someone make a feature-length, meaningful adaptation in the English language that conveys the energy and power of the original without all the nonlinear bits and pieces? The reward would be a giant vision of gods, heroes, mythical creatures and magic.
(maybe a classic PBS/BBC series or Hayao Miyazaki anime film would be fun) or her fantasy noir Thief Errant series on-screen. 
has already been performed superbly in a full-length 
(tough to make, but in the hands of someone like Tarsem Singh who did the underrated The Fall there would be some cool, trippy otherworld sequences) and 
(come on, aren’t we due for a great carnie movie?). Now, let’s do the countdown.
they’ve already got a pretty cool cinematic western. John Marston plays the typical western hero of a former rogue looking for redemption and trying to save his wife and child. It’s been done many different times, but if you have good actors, good scenery and good dialogue to go with this story, it could work. I can’t tell you much more about this particular story; I just know that I’m still surprised that a video game actually moved me.
and how they would look cool fighting Nazis as well. Then, I kept reading it over and over, and since 
could effectively show the terror of an incurable disease spreading and the feeling of helplessness that follows. For the protagonist Kivrin, trying to not reveal you’re from the future adds a great layer to that tension, having to remain disconnected while not being sure if she’ll ever leave this doomed time.
in two previous Borg.com posts, so you know how much I like it. I also think that it would make a fantastic film noir. You have the femme fatale in Miss Misery, you have a guy that doesn’t know what’s good or bad anymore and you have crime galore. If that’s not a great film noir, with bonus super powers, I don’t know what is.
might be one of my favorite baseball books of all time. I took it in the third round of a baseball book draft. (I knew it would last until then, so I grabbed 
and 
with my first two picks). The story of the Ruppert Mundys and the forgotten Patriot League as told by “Word” Smith (thanks, Wikipedia) would run circles around Moneyball the movie. I think the fictional 14-year-old manager (I think that’s the age – goodness, I need to buy a copy of this book to read again and so I can look up such queries) would make a better representative of sabermetrics than the “fictional” Peter Brand.
the book was my fifth round choice in the baseball draft – and just another perfect example of how I dislike movie adaptations of books that I enjoy. As much as I would like to see this list made into movies now that I’ve written this post, my gut tells me it’s probably better if they’re not.
