I'm Looking at the Man in the Mirror -- JLA: Earth 2

JLA: Earth 2 (the Deluxe Edition)(2013; originally (c) 2000)
Grant Morrison-Frank Quitely

Doug: I wish there was such a thing as a graphic novel library. Sure, I know some libraries carry a nice selection of such things, but my local public libraries are not very large, and I am pretty certain that if the two local colleges have any such selections it's minimal as well.

No, I'm talking about going into one of the super-nice LCS and being able to check out or even rent their wares. I'd have done so with the book we'll be discussing this day. I've had my eye on it since, well -- it's release 15 years ago (and that is mind blowing, etc.). I first encountered the Crime Syndicate as an 8-year old, reading a reprinted tale lurking within the pages of Justice League of America #114 (Nov/Dec 1974), and liked them from the start. Last month I was able to score a copy of the edition I've pictured above on the Black Friday sale at cheapgraphicnovels.com. I paid only $6 for a paperback copy and I'm glad I now own it, but thankful that I didn't pay full price. I really do think it's the sort of book I'd read more than once; the pictures are pretty and the story was thought-provoking. It's not the best Justice League story I've ever read (the Paul Dini-Alex Ross big book might be...), but it was pretty good -- particularly for its publication date.

Doug: I guess DC has gone through 2-3 reboots since this story originally saw the light of day. I'm not really up on all that, but was struck by author Grant Morrison's theories on the then-forbidden fruit of the multiverse. Here Morrison gives a different take on the Marvel concepts of Counter-Earth, or the Earth of the Squadron Supreme, and the DC notion of Earths that vibrate at different frequencies. In Morrison's tale, the Crime Syndicate of Amerika inhabits what they call "Earth", which is part of an anti-matter universe. There everything is wrong -- Benedict Arnold is on currency, there are monuments built to Adolf Hitler, and crime is normal and even upheld. Ultraman rules the planet like a god with the assistance of his partners: Owlman, Superwoman, Power Ring, and Johnny Quick. Each of them uses their powerset to bring havoc to the citizens of the planet. For those scoring at home, these characters used to inhabit Earth-3, with the Justice Society of America hailing from Earth-2 and of course "our" world being Earth-1. Here, the hero of Earth is one Alexander Luthor, complete with that awesome green and purple battlesuit.

Doug: Luthor "escapes" the confinement meted out by Ultraman and makes his way to our Earth, a place that Ultraman will later call "Earth 2". The basics of the plot, without any exhaustive recollection here, is that Luthor has been wanting for quite some time to overthrow the Crime Syndicate. He's come to our planet to enlist the aid of the Justice League. Superman and his six pals are of course skeptical, but this Lex wins them over. After Luthor explains his plans, the JLA meets to decide if they should go through with this jump to the anti-matter Earth. Conveniently, it is decided that J'onn and Aquaman should stay behind on our Earth -- you see how that sets up a one-to-one fight with the Crime Syndicate. But, you'd be wrong, as that never materializes! And I think that's where Grant Morrison scores with this story. There are quite a few things that you might think are going to happen, but then it doesn't come off that way. Conversely, there are some lines of dialogue and/or plot details that give the reader pause.

Doug: Ultimately the JLA is faced with defeat; not at the hands of the Crime Syndicate, but a philosophical resignation to Morrison's posit that good cannot exist against abject evil (the contrary notion also true). And here I found myself putting the book down for a few seconds to ponder that. Although by now almost 15 years old, I wondered if Morrison had any idea how much more negative our world would become and the pessimism that sometimes seems to permeate our feelings, our perceptions. Morrison wrote pre-9/11, pre-War on Terror, pre-Great Recession... but his extreme position of pure good cannot triumph over pure evil (simply put, there's no reference point for an inroad) sure seems a topic for discussion in 2015, almost 2016. This wasn't the sort of book I'd expected when I cracked open the cover.

Doug: Frank Quitely's art is some sort of cross for me between that of Ed McGinnis and later Frank Miller. I draw those comparisons due in large part to McGinnis's affinity for chunky (read: thick) forms and Miller's faces. I find Quitely's art pleasing, and certainly fitting for the story. The coloring, for being "modern" is OK. I think from some of the scans I've provided you can see that it's not muddy, but does have some brightness here and there. Everyone's costumes seem to look "right".

Doug: My edition of the book comes with over 20 pages of goodies, notably Morrison's pitch for the project. What's cool about that is the fact that at some point Quitely doodled the heck out of the script, so there are some really cool thumbnails. There are also character designs.and Quitely's "storyboards" for much of the graphic novel. I always enjoy those "DVD extras" in the back of a trade or hardcover. Nice bonus. So if like the JLA, if you yearn for those multiverse days of yore, then I'd urge you to check this out. And who knows -- you might even be able to borrow a copy.

 

Change for Change's Sake?

Karen: David B made a comment in the Suggestion Box on Friday about the news that the Green Lantern of Earth 2, Alan Scott, is now gay in the new DC Universe. I'm curious how you BABsters feel about this change. Personally, I've been glad to see more gay characters in comics, just as I was pleased to see an increase in characters of different ethnic groups over the years. I think it's great for everyone to get some representation. But this particular decision seems contrived. Writer James Robinson said in an interview that in the 'old' universe, Scott had a gay son, Obsidian, but with the advent of the new universe, he had disappeared. He felt badly about the removal of a gay character, so his solution was to turn the new, young and unmarried Scott into a gay man.

Karen: I can understand what Robinson's saying, but I can't help but think that the primary reason DC is doing this is to get some press. After all, they could have just made the character gay and never made a big announcement.

Doug: As you all know, I'm not reading anything new these days (for the past several years, really). But wasn't the new Batwoman a lesbian? I seem to recall some press about that. I think, as you said, that this is somewhat contrived and for my money is reactionary to the news out of Marvel that Alpha Flight's Northstar is going to get married. I believe he was the first gay character from Marvel or DC. At any rate, it doesn't matter to me in real life who is gay or straight -- the quality of a man's or woman's life is my measuring stick. Do I have feelings about some of the hot-button political issues of today? Sure I do. But a person's worth goes beyond their political, cultural, or sexual persuasions in my book. So for DC to make a big deal about this in the press is bandwagoning to one extent, exploitive to another.

Doug: Quite some time ago -- can't recall when -- we had an Open Forum where the political and/or religious backgrounds/leanings of certain characters became a topic of discussion. Let's face it -- characters from both companies through the years have been written pretty blandly in these areas (Ollie Queen under Dennis O'Neil perhaps the notable exception), and I guess overall that's where I'd like them to be -- not the drab one-size-fits-all of Silver Age DC... they can still have a little personality. But one of our commenters said that once it's known that a given character is Catholic, or a vegan, or divorced, or gay, or whatever, readers form prejudices for or against that character and they cease to be just that -- a character, and may become instead a caricature. Personally I don't read comics for my social commentary, and overall it's not important to me that our fictional friends necessarily mirror the demographics outside the four color page. Let me add one exception -- the expansion of racially/ethnically diverse characters has been welcome, as you stated; but as far as peeling away the onion... Am I making any sense here??

Karen: I see what you're saying, but I think people like to see themselves represented in movies, books, and TV. There have been many groups of people who over the years have not received much attention. I think of the story Whoopi Goldberg has told about how excited she was as a young girl when she saw Lt. Uhura on Star Trek for the first time. She ran to her mother and said, "There's a black lady on TV and she's not a maid!" There's something to be said for having characters, in any medium, represent society at large. But I'd like it to be a more natural, organic development and not some pre-meditated publicity stunt. However it shakes out, I just hope they do a good job with it. But honestly, I really miss the old Earth 2, with the senior citizen heroes who had sons and daughters. That was really different, and special, and I think it was a huge mistake to wipe that out.