DC surprises on Free Comic Book Day
May 27, 2012 -- I was pleased to see that DC Comics: The New 52 FCBD Special Edition #1, one of DC's two offering for Free Comic Book Day (the other being a children's book) had some actual meat in it. I wanted to point out what I noticed, and see if you Legionnaires had any other suggestions or ideas.
Here we go:
PAGE ONE
These three panels pack a lot of information in them.
Panel 1: The seven earliest human magicians form a council of some kind. The center one is wearing the Shazam! insignia, but I don't know him. (He looks African, or possibly Australian bushman.) The one on the far right looks like -- no kidding -- Super Chief! Behind him is a Japanese man, who sure looks a lot like Samurai from Super Friends (but I'm honestly hoping he's not -- that's just silly). Between the Shazam avatar and psuedo-Samurai is a woman who looks like Isis. There's another Asian, a woman, and a woman with red hair. I'm guessing they represent Chinese and Celtic pantheons, respectively. There's another black man, who is probably African or Mesopotamian. If my guesses are accurate, they would represent the earliest civilizations, excluding South America. (Mayans don't get no love!)
Panel 2-3: We meet "the greatest transgressors mankind has ever known." These three -- "The Trinity of Sin" -- inform us a little of what the "War of the Trinity" will be about in upcoming issues. Prior to this, the only trinity we had known was Batman-Superman-Wonder Woman. Nice to know they won't be the bad guys.
PAGE TWO
Panels 1-7: The first of the Trinity is revealed, and it appears to be Judas Iscariot. He's unnamed, but what they say -- "your greed has forever darkened the world" -- is a suggestion, as is something he says -- "Forgive me as He would!" -- is a likely reference to Jesus Christ. Also the Shazam guy -- Judas calls him "wizard" -- throws 30 pieces of silver at him, which turn into a necklace that we've seen before ... on the Phantom Stranger. To pound it home, Isis says "You will walk as a stranger to man, to witness what greed can do."
PAGE THREE
Panels 1-6: The second member of the Trinity of Sin is unnamed, and in fact his punishment is that he and everyone else will forget his name. I dunno if we're supposed to know who he is or not; he's a ginger and that's the only clue we have. He's arrogant and defiant, if that's of any help. But his face is erased by the wizards, a look we've seen before, on The Question (who wore a mask). This seems confirmed when someone off panel says "You will forever question your identity and forever search for answers you will never find."
Panel 7: The last member of the Trinity is named: Pandora of Greco-Roman myth, whom we have seen skulking about in every New 52 first issue.
PAGE FOUR
Pandora is being punished for releasing all the evils in the world, but doesn't consider herself evil and resents being punished for curiosity.
PAGE FIVE
Not a lot new here; we see the Red Room again from Justice League where extraterrestrial, unidentified and classified technology is kept and where Cyborg was born. His poor relationship with his father is underscored. Someone makes reference to a Monitor Machine, which seems to function much like the Monitors of Crisis on Infinite Earths.
PAGE SIX
The Monitor Machine is picking up a transmission from an alternate earth, which we recognize as Earth 2. We see their Trinity (who apparently die in Earth 2 #1) in combat with Parademons, along with Supergirl and Robin (who become Power Girl and Huntress in Worlds' Finest #1). We also get our first looks at the Alan "Green Lantern" Scott and Jay "Flash" Garrick of this Earth 2. Pandora is present but invisible, and thinks "It's not here.
PAGE SEVEN
Argus, a "Bloodlines" superhero in the old 52, is now A.R.G.U.S., identified as a military arm dedicated to fighting superhumans, but they don't tell us what the acronym stands for. We meet Steve Trevor and Etta Candy (the latter is now black and thin), who have NOT been introduced in Wonder Woman so far. Trevor is the head of A.R.G.U.S. and expresses sympathy for the League and distaste for Green Arrow. We hear references to the super-powered teens in Alaska (Ravagers?), Talia al-Ghul and the book we saw in Justice League about the Justice League.
PAGE EIGHT-NINE
Panel 1: We learn of the Black Room, where dangerous supernatural artifacts are kept. We see a lot of them, and I could use some help identifying them all! Let's see:
I think that's the head of the spear of destiny attached to the bureau next to the Mayan-looking thing. Above that is an ornate chair, someone's throne? That's the original black diamond under the sheet, it looks to me, before Eclipso split it up into lots of little diamonds. There's a dragon skeleton. There's a chandelier made of bones, which could have come from Europe's Sedlec Ossuary, but i may have seen it on the cover to a House of Mystery once, or maybe that was an organ made of bone. I'm guessing the green thing with the "do not ring" notice is the New 52's Green Bell of Uthool from the Demons Three storylines. On the far right is the Haunted Tank, and near it what looks like a half-hidden Red Lantern. There's a longboat hanging from the ceiling, too (Viking Prince?). Some of those papier-mache warriors from China's Hidden City tomb are on the left. There's some red armor, but I don't know whose (Shining Knight?). The symbols and words around the door in the back are part of the Great Seal of the United States, and basically assigns God's approval of new beginnings. There's a half-hidden painting (Doom Patrol's Painting That Ate Paris?). Any other guesses?
Panels 6-9: Pandora arrives, looking for her Box. She references the Spear of Destiny and Black Diamond, which I identified above, and the Seven Spells of Shazam, which I didn't. Conversation indicates that the Orb of Ra (which created Metamorpho) was stolen by an unidentified male. Dr. Mist, who was an Earth-Two bad guy in the Old 52, is the curator of the Black Room, but we don't see him. Pandora exhibits magic guns. She opens her box, which contains a three-eyed skull. Who do we know with three eyes? Could it be ... Despero?
PAGE 10
"The Circus" -- one of A.R.G.U.S.'s special "rooms" -- is mentioned. References are made to Black Orchid and John Constantine.
PAGE 11
An angry face in the stormclouds watching Pandora. Spectre? Shazam?
PAGE 12
We meet a black Green Lantern. John Stewart?
PAGES 13-16
Lots of capes fighting. We see the Justice League, except Hal Jordan is missing and black Green Lantern is there, fighting Superman. Wonder Woman is punching Mera. Vibe (yes, VIBE!) is vibrating at Flash. Deadman is possessing Black Adam. Element Girl and The Atom (who looks female) are fighting Cyborg. Hwkman is fighting Green Arrow (some things never change).
I have no idea what the fight's about, but it does introduce the New 52 versions of some characters I haven't seen before, like Black Adam and "Atom Girl" and Vibe. Of course, I don't read ALL the New 52, so maybe some of these have already appeared somewhere.
Anyone else got anything?
Comments
As someone said at that link, if it was a good idea for Marvel to put out the comic with Spider-Woman fully-clothed, why did she need to be naked the first time around? Is there a monthly Creepiness Quota they have to fulfill?
Do they expect (know?) that their target audience would want to see women naked, degraded and humiliated?
I picked up that FCBD Avengers comic, having just enjoyed the movie immensely the night before. I didn't notice that Spider-woman had been covered up. I just noticed that the team was almost completely different from the one in the movie, and the story took place in the middle of a bunch of continuity I knew nothing about. I was ready to enjoy an Avengers comic, but this wasn't it! It was as big a fail as the DC one, albeit in a different way.
After I wrote that, I googled the FCBD Avengers comic, because I suddenly doubted it was true. I thought maybe the piece I'd read on it was satirical or something. Marvel is now beyond satire.
As the target audience for FCBD may include kids, they got a colorist to paint on her suit throughout. Is this true?
My mind can't stop boggling these days.
I also got a Moomins comic. It's just the opening segment of a Moomins book, so it doesn't really go anywhere, so I can't really read it to her. Even 3yos know that stories need some kinda resolution. I'd definitely get her one of the books though. I'm sure Scandinavia has much to be proud of, but with the Moomins and Abba they have more than justified their existence!
I haven't read my Buffy freebie yet. How strange is that? They dampened my love of the Buff somewhere along the line...
There was also a Smurfs freebie, but I didn't have the stomach to pick it up (Sorry John!)
...Before reading this , I'll say that I , on FBCD , was a little let down...My LCS got in only " kid-suitable " titles( Bar a Buffy/DH sampler . ) - Great to have them , and I'm interested in many myself , but still... - And , the Other Comics Shop ( OCS ) in town I sometimes go to as well were outta their FCBDs entirely by the time I got there...I did want some of the more " alt-/indie " ones , Howard Cruise , D&Q...And I didn't get the mainline DC sampler , either , though I was thinking that it was "just for loyalty/curiosity I'd want it...Now , you tell me that it had some meat !!!!!!!!!
Thanks John. Very informative.
So the 3boot continued for a few years after the Lightning Saga, it seems? But they also came out in parallel with Johns' Superman stories where Superman visited the Levitz Legion of their future. The fans must have been cranky about that!
I've just read FC:Lo3W. Entertaining and with the Perez art, so I can't complain. It didn't really stay with me that the 3boot were the Legion of Earth Prime. Some of it was continuity information, and as I had no engagement with that, it didn't stay with me. I couldn't even tell you which was the 3rd world that a Legion had come from for that adventure!
(Edited to add: Realise now it must have been Geffen's 5-years later Legion?)
I think we will hear eventually what drove Waid to tweet such a thing. I guess it's a sign of the times that what would just be a frustrated hyperbolic comment a decade ago, is something which is now inscribed in the public record forever!
Figs said:
Waid wrote this incarnation of the LSH up to issue 30. He was followed by Tony Bedard (#31-36) and then Jim Shooter (#37-50). It was revealed in Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds that the 3boot team was from Universe-Prime (with the same Earth as, you guessed it, Superboy-Prime), destroyed in the first Crisis and reborn in the second one (don't look at me, that's how Brainiac 5 explained it), and at the end of the series they were sent back there. We haven't seen them since, nor I do expect we will again.
I should add that FC:Lo3W was a 5 issue miniseries that encountered many delays. Issue 1 was cover dated October 2008, the same month as LSH 45. LSH kept to its monthly schedule and the last issue, #50, was cover dated March 2009, but by then DC was only up to issue 2 of Lo3W! My theory is that the original plan was for Lo3W to come out monthly and conclude close to the same time as this LSH series did, and give the series a nice sendoff with issue 50. After that, the decks were cleared for (yet another) fresh start for the LSH, this time the "Lightning Saga" Legion, which was more or less the Levitz era LSH with a few minor adjustments. Johns did the writing for a bit (in Adventure Comics) and eventually Paul Levitz himself took over both in Adventure and the next incarnation of the LSH's self-titled series.
I remembered him doing this and Googled the details. It was a comment he made on Twitter back in 2010, "Today was the day I stopped reading super-hero comics. One that I won't name finally broke me." There was a lot of speculation but when pressed, Waid would only name writers he enjoys, so no one but him knows for sure. I would think your guess is incorrect as he was part of the ASM writing team at the time. More likely it was a potshot at DC, methinks. Waid, and Jim Shooter for that matter, are not fans of Dan Didio. Most of Waid's complaints about his last stint at DC seem to always come back to Didio. In one interview I've read, Waid notes how Didio "absolutely hated 52" and referred to Countdown (later renamed Countdown to Final Crisis) as "52 done right".
It wasn't so much the act of bringing back an alternative Legion that gave Waid the hump, as the fact that they kept the news from him until it was practically at the printer's! Waid was very professional about it.
So how did Waid's 3boot end? did it just stop? did they bring in a new writer to finish it?
The JLA/JSA/LSH story was a mess, but Johns' later Legion stories weren't bad even though (whisper it) I don't usually like Johns' writing, and I know or care very little for the 70's Legion.
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