Source: Swamp Thing vol.5 #16, Animal Man vol.2 #17 (2013)
Type: Alternate future
You know, I'm really happy that guys like Jeff Lemire and Scott Snyder are having so much mainstream success, and (tendency to prolong story arcs almost indefinitely aside) they're among those writers who are actively saving the New52 from being an outright disaster. And I don't know for sure, but they seem to have the same opinion of DC's current output I do. In Rotworld, a possible future where the Rot has won and most of the planet has been contaminated by it, they both use "rotten" superheroes as threats/cannon fodder for their Red and Green rebels. But not just ANY superheroes. The clues came early, with Swamp Thing's group facing the Teen Titans, and Animal Man's going up against Hawkman, Hawk & Dove, Grifter and Deathstroke. These last four were all tainted by Rob Leifeld's influence, and the Titans book was dead on arrival as far as I'm concerned. So if these were the heroes of the Rot, it seemed like the writers had picked them for a reason. I mean, there are plenty of more recognizable characters out there, so to pick those specific ones calls attention to itself.
So are we prepared to take it all the way to the end and say that Lemire and Syder are none too impressed with the other rotten heroes that show up to defend Arcane's fortress? Superman, Wonder Woman and the Flash (AKA the Justice League)? Suicide Squad? The Birds of Prey?
Go on, tell it's a coincidence.
Type: Alternate future
So are we prepared to take it all the way to the end and say that Lemire and Syder are none too impressed with the other rotten heroes that show up to defend Arcane's fortress? Superman, Wonder Woman and the Flash (AKA the Justice League)? Suicide Squad? The Birds of Prey?
Go on, tell it's a coincidence.
Comments
Now the Lobdell touch, on the other hand, could be not so coincidental. We could do this with Venn diagrams, where Arcane's shock troops intersect heavily with the superset of Lobdell and Liefeld books.