Earth-2: Looking Forward to More Characters

One of the pleasures of James Robinson's Earth-2 series is all the little references to Golden Age characters and concepts that seem to hint or promise that more Golden Agers will show up, re-invented for a new century. Just look at this establishing shot of New York in ish #2 (click for a bigger look):While the issue is principally about the Flash (Jay Garrick) and Green Lantern (Alan Scott), the above scene makes some neat references to others (in addition to cute refs like All-Star Shop and Fox Way). TylerChem has apparently acquired WayneTech in the wake of Batman's death. TylerChem is, of course, the pharmaceutical company founded by Rick Tyler, AKA Hour Man, whose Miraclo drug gives him a one-hour burst of power. And what of that boxing match? That's Ted Grant (AKA Wildcat) vs. "Mauler" Montez, the father of Yolanda Montez, who in the previous continuity became the second Wildcat. See how that works out?

And of course, in the corner of the image you have the New52's Mr. Terrific who has just been wormholed to Earth-2 and soon meets one Terry Sloan, just one letter away from the Golden Age Mr. Terrific, Terry Sloane. He's THIS world's smartest man and not very nice, definitely more Ozymandias than "Fair Play". Ah well, can't win 'em all.

Comments

Jim Yoder said…
Wow, that sounds cool, thanks for posting this. I have not been keeping up with DC lately. I may have to check that out. Take care!
My only complaint is that Robinson is still putting using lines like "Sh'yeah." I hated that in his JLA run. Otherwise, that double page spread does say a lot.

What I like is that Robinson has used the five year mark in the same manner used after JL's battle with Darkseid. It really keeps the parallel thing going.
Siskoid said…
Robinson has always had verbal ticks in his work. He's obviously trying to replicate a more natural speech, but on the page, it just looks strange, like a Mamet play.

It's striking me how well-suited he is to this series because he's essentially the Roy Thomas of his generation. Like Roy, he has a deep love for old, discarded characters and the comics universe's history. His Superman was filled with characters from First Issue Special, and of course, Starman very much played on that theme.
Rob Barrett said…
I'm enjoying the comic very much--it's incredibly liberating to free up all of the characters from their WWII origins and reposition them as twenty-first century contemporaries of the JLA.
Martin Gray said…
I've not noticed dodgy dialogue, just a hugely enjoyable ride. And yessiree, that's a tremendous spread.

I am now going to use sh'yeah in a sentence.
Siskoid said…
Well one of the things I think Robinson is doing with the language in Earth-2 is making it old-fashioned. Am I the only one picking up on that? Like a certain politeness in Jay, for example.

I'll have to reread them to see if it holds up.