Every month, Brian Salvatore will take a glimpse at “Earth 2” from James Robinson and Nicola Scott, and address one aspect of the book in an in-depth column we’re called “Greetings From Earth 2.”
The fantastic image above is by Tim Daniel. Check out more of his work here.
In this installment, in addition to “Earth 2,” a light will be shown on “Worlds’ Finest” #0, since it takes place entirely on Earth 2, and provides some interesting clues for the future of “Earth 2.”
Earth 2 #0 – ‘A Hero’s Tale,’ or, ‘Where’s Bubastis?’
Wonder Woman called herself, Batman and Superman “the Ternion” on Earth 2, a variation on their New Earth title of “the Trinity.” Context clues alone reveal these to be synonyms, but there is significantly more thought put into this. On New Earth, Wonder Woman interacts with the Greek gods – Hermes, Zeus, Athena, etc. But on Earth 2, Mercury is the god we meet, and he is from the Roman mythology tradition. And so, Wonder Woman uses the Latin-based word for three, ternion, instead of the Greek-based word, trinity.
In his narration, Terry Sloan, aka Mr. 8, describes how Earth 2 had 8 heroes at this time: the aforementioned Ternion, himself, Robin, Supergirl, Catwoman, and an unnamed hero (who we will deal with later). Compared to New Earth, or the Marvel 616, this seems like a shockingly low number. However, various press materials, as well as some in-story elements, remind us that these heroes aren’t quite as solid on the “no killing” rule as their New Earth counterparts. So, while “our” Batman will always be dealing with criminals in Gotham, if this Batman runs into the Joker, he could shoot him in the face, and hey, one less super-villain. (This is not going to turn into a “does capital punishment deter crime?” discussion, I promise)
Catwoman and Robin are described in “Worlds’ Finest” as watching the streets of Gotham because Batman is off “saving the world from bogeymen,” while Supergirl lives a cloistered life both for her own protection and for strategic purposes. So, essentially, for larger world issues, there are 5 people protecting them.
Besides for the mystery hero and the Ternion, the only hero we can really explore further is Mr. 8, Terry Sloan. Sloan was first introduced, in this continuity, in issue #2, where he finds Michael Holt, the Mister Terrific of New Earth, having landed on Earth 2. Terry Sloane (notice the ‘e’) was the original Mister Terrific of Earth 2 in the Golden Age, and the character is fundamentally the same: a hyper intelligent, martial arts trained hero.
However, Sloan is so smart that it has stripped him of his humanity or, rather, it has changed his humanity from what we would typically consider compassion to something else. This issue is centered on an elaborate plan to destroy four countries on the globe – Sloan feels there is no way to rehabilitate the people infected by Anti-Life in those countries, so to send a message to Steppenwolf and his cronies, those lands will burn.
He has used his intelligence to craft this plan in a thorough way, taking out Superman who will, in turn, take out Wonder Woman, and leave Batman to Sloan. Sloan’s plan is basically stated as such: the world can’t save itself, so it needs me to act as coldly as possible to save it from itself. Does that sound familiar?
This was my least favorite part of the issue. Basically, Mr. 8 is Ozymandias, using his intelligence and skill to save the world, to do the “right” thing, in the wrong way. While this all makes total sense, and Sloan as a super intelligent hero predates Ozymandias by close to fifty years, it just seems like this is an idea that’s been used before, and this doesn’t deviate too much from that. Hopefully, given time, Robinson will flesh out Sloan more, and he will not remain in the shadow of his Alexander-obsessed analogue.
Continued below
Worlds’ Finest #0 – ‘Beginnings,’ or, ‘BFFAEAEAE’
The idea of Superman keeping his cousin locked away, both for her own protection, as well as to be a “secret weapon” in the war against Apokolips is a great one, and Levitz does a bang up job setting up this premise. It also creates a really interesting character trait for Kara/Karen/Supergirl. In “World’s Finest” thus far, Karen has been obsessed with getting “home” to Earth 2, where Helena simply wants to survive where she currently is. This makes sense for the orphaned Helena, but why does Karen want to return so badly? Perhaps it is because, due to her hidden status, she only got to see the world through hopes and dreams.
Think about a small child promised a trip to Disney World – they will think about all the wonderful things they’ll do, the rides, the food, the characters, for months before going. They don’t imagine the long lines, oppressive heat, and smarmy shitheads that occupy most Disney owned properties.
That is how Karen sees her native Earth – sure, she fought villains, but she probably wasn’t able to enjoy a slice of pizza, or see the Redwood forest, or ride a roller coaster. And so because of that, she wants to get home to see what Earth has to offer – it also explains her sexpot persona in “Mister Terrific,” as she never had the opportunity to have meaningful relationships, so her view of what sex and love mean are a little askew.
Helena as the anti-Damian
Damian Wayne was a love child of two people who hate each other, raised to be the puppet of one parent, only to abdicate and be the puppet of the other. Helena Wayne was the love child of two people who were truly in love, and who worked together to raise her to continue on their work.
The two stories are mirror images of each other, and Helena is all the things that Damian isn’t. She’s sentimental, she values friendship, and she listens to everything her parents tell her to do. And, unlike Damian, she doesn’t believe that she needs to do everything on her own.
When Karen shows up, she realizes her limitations and allows herself to be helped to achieve her goal. This seems to be a trait of Earth 2 Bruce as well, who trusts Kal and Selina in ways that New Earth Bruce never could.
Selina as Hero
There has been a tradition of Catwoman being a criminal with a good heart, from the Golden Age to “The Dark Knight Rises,” but of late this is a trend that DC has wanted to really push: she’s part of Batman, Inc pre-relaunch, she’s going to be part of the Justice League of America, hell, she’s even had her own film.
If “World’s Finest” fails to have Selina and Helena meet and explore this duality in her character, then they are missing a great opportunity. Maybe seeing Helena would cause Selina to reconsider her criminal ways, making a Justice League spot more logical? Or, perhaps, meeting Helena would show the pressures of motherhood that Selina doesn’t want, and she reverts to crime to avoid the responsibilities being a hero would make up.
Terrific Tomas / Magnificent Maguire
Since I can’t do my “Great Scott” section, I’ll share a nice piece of art from both “Earth 2” guest artist Tomas Giorello, and “Worlds’ Finest” flashback sequence/#0 issue artist Kevin Maguire.
Giorello:
Maguire:
2(x2) Shots of Presumption
Since I’m covering two books this week, we get double the guesswork!
1. Sloan is why Helena and Karen are on New Earth
Sloan has already admitted to traveling across dimensions, and has admitted to seeing the future. Perhaps Supergirl and Robin, after the death of their mentors, stop Sloan from being the champion he wants to be; so, he arranges for them to be elsewhere. He is the one opening the portal that sends them away, ensuring that never happens. The dimension hopping is also seen at the death of Catwoman, which leads me to believe…
Continued below2. Sloan’s army killed Catwoman
Again, Sloan is trying to both save the world, and benefit personally from the world’s destruction. Catwoman is a threat to that, so she has to go. In addition to the dimension hopping, the “soldiers” that killed her are dressed and armed in a way not too dissimilar to how Mr. 8 is seen. If Sloan can wipe planets off the Earth without so much as a tear, how easy must it have been for him to kill a pesky heroine?
3. The Mysterious One Sloan is listing the heroes of Earth 2, and after himself says, “[there is] one who I’ll refrain from mentioning now (for reasons that all who know this world and this war will understand).” Who could this be?
Well, if Robinson is being true to Golden Age conventions, than I believe it to be one of three people: Aquaman, Captain Marvel, or Hawkman. And my money is on Hawkman. Here’s why:
We’ve already seen Hawkgirl, and so we know that there is some sort of Hawkworld/Thangar in this dimension. He is also a classic JSA member currently being used on New Earth. And, he has the potential to be the person best suited to take out Sloan in the future. This works in two scenarios – if Sloan sent Hawkman to New Earth, he could return to take his place on Earth 2, or, if the Earth 2 version was killed by Sloan, the New Earth version could swoop in and take his place.
I believe that, much like “Mister Terrific,” when DC decides to put “The Savage Hawkman” out to pasture, Robinson will get to write his admitted favorite character as part of “Earth 2.” So, my money on the mystery hero being Carter Hall, in some incarnation.
4. “Worlds’ Finest” will wind up on alternate Earths before it gets to Earth 2
In their quest to get home, I see “Worlds’ Finest” as the book most likely to hop throughout the Multiverse, landing in all sorts of interesting places before, if ever, returning home. This also makes it a perfect spot for lots of forgotten heroes to make appearances or, perhaps in a bit of fanboy wishing, places to see more stories from the “Multiversity” worlds that Grant Morrison will be unveiling for us, hopefully, next year.
Well that is all for another month of “Greetings from Earth 2” – feel free to leave any comments, questions, clarifications, or suggestions in the comments, or email me, brian@multiversitycomics.com. Thanks for reading!
