Friday, January 26, 2007

DC Teaser Image

NEWSARAMA broke this teaser image for an upcoming DC Comics event tonight.

For those of you who are click-lazy and link-poor, here's the image in question:

(click for larger version)

So there are some things I notice about this image:
  1. Poor, dead The Question. Combined with Blue Beetle they've got a good start at a graveyard for Steve Ditko characters going.
  2. Also down among the dead is what looks to be the Phantom Zone projector?
  3. All the ex-characters except for The Question died during Infinite Crisis. That kind of puts the timing of this event into Question (so to speak). Does this take place immediately after 52?
  4. If so, Superman wouldn't be around yet.
  5. Costumes, costumes, costumes - Donna Troy is in her old Wonder Girl outfit, Batman is wearing a really bizarre Arabian Bat-Suit, and...
  6. ...is that Red Robin? With Kingdom Come Starman showing up in JSA last month, it's looking more and more like Kingdom Come is some kind of canon, be it multi-verse or alternate future.
  7. Speaking of alternate futures and the multi-verse, holy CRAP, is that Flash really Barry Allen?
  8. It's a very couple-y image... Ion and Donna Troy used to be a thing, and Mr. Miracle and Barda are married. This draws odd attention to Canary and Green Arrow being distanced from one another.
  9. Is there any other reason for Barda and Mister Miracle to be there? Do they seem out of place to anyone else?
  10. Mary Marvel looking off to the sky seems like she's only there to draw attention to Captain Marvel's absence.
SPECULATION:

At the end of 52, Skeetz is destroyed, and as he "ate" the Phantom Zone last issue, this releases Kryptonian Super Criminals to menace the Earth. Hence the destroyed Phantom Zone projector, and the destroyed Statue of Liberty (what's up, Zod?).
This is the big "World War 3" event DC has been pushing.
Batman returns from the desert because of this. His costume is not, actually, an Elseworlds thing. It's meant to evoke the old school Neal Adams Batman stories, which is what Grant Morrison tried to return the character to after the 1-Year Later jump.
Red Robin is actually Jason Todd, who's given up his Red-Hood persona and has nothing to actually do with Kingdom Come.

And finally, I have one COMPLAINT/RANT:

For the love of god, DC, please stop only showing us Wonder Woman as she affects Batman and Superman. She's in this picture, as far as I can tell, only to be there for Superman to cry to. In Infinite Crisis, her only real role seemed to be to convince Batman not to kill Luthor, and to be there for Superman of Earth 2. Can we get some REAL character development, or at least the acknowledgement that Wonder Woman is a character worthy of her own story? A character worthy of her own, MONTHLY comic book?

Since Infinite Crisis she's been making 75 cents to Batman and Superman's dollar.



So if there's anyone still reading after that, please comment with your thoughts of what all this could mean, what you speculate lies in the future for the characters in this image... DISCUSS!

-casey-

3 comments:

Leonard Bass said...

The best part of this image is Batman's new costume, which is FUCKING AWESOME ON EVERY LEVEL JESUS CHRIST NEVER GO BACK TO THE WEAK OLD SHIT.

Following that is Kingdom Come Robin. I hope that this continues the trend of bringing Kingdom Come into the fold as canon, because it's the best thing DC's ever done.

My knee-jerk reaction to you weeping about Wonder Woman was to tell you to stop bitching about her because she sucks. Then I thought about it, and decided it would be best for me to go with that reaction. She sucks, stop bitching, etc..

And did I mention how fucking awesome Batman looks?

Jeff Munson said...

Yeah, the whole Green Arrow and Black Canary thing is interesting because it supports the rumor that they are getting hitched sometime this year. Good Speculation on the Red Robin thing though, that could be interesting if it pans out. A couple of other interesting things of note is the legion flight ring on the ground (right near Blue Beetles hand) and what looks to be the Atom's hand jutting out of the rubble next to Black Canary's feet. I think this image basically is to show the setup that has gotten the DCU to where it will be after 52. Starting with the Atom for Identity Crisis, then to Blue Beetle for Countdown, then Max Lord from before Infinite Crisis, then Jade during Infinite Crisis, then Question during 52.(reading Left to right of course) I think that the characters are definately there to represent the return of the Multiverse though, I can't really say why they chose those particular charcters, although Barry Allen coming back would suck.... I'd much rather see Wally West back then anything else.

Casey Malone said...

Jeff,

Wow, good catch on the left-to-right timeline thing! How do you think the Legion flight ring features into it?

Leonard,

Yeah, you're wrong about Wonder Woman, but I know better than to try and convince you.