Earth 2 anyone?

[cobalt-blue]

Earth 2 is probably the best reboot I've ever seen. The stories are tight, and the new takes on the characters are FANTASTIC! I'm thinking of running a campaign on Earth 2. Any chance of getting stats for those heroes, and maybe some more information about the setting?

[Earth-Two_Kenn]

Information about the setting: probably not, since DC's still developing it.

Stats: the extant stats for Jay and Alan should work well enough. Maybe drop their D/P scores and some of their accuracy to reflect their inexperience. And maybe some of Jay's alternate effects.

Kendra, not sure if Hawkgirl's stats from H&V vol. 1 would work or not.

Since they decided to make the Atom a giant (WTF!) I doubt using Al's H&V stats would work. Maybe using Atom-Smasher's stats instead might work.

[cobalt-blue]

I think that's supposed to be CAPTAIN Atom.

[Earth-Two_Kenn]

#4, Page 18. He refers to himself as the Atom, complete with a logo.

He's short at normal size. And he's identified as Al Pratt. Those say "The Atom" to those of us born on Earth-Two.

He has risen in rank since the first issue, so he is now Captain Al Pratt, which may be trying to evoke a little bit of Captain Atom.

I was glad to see Al in the tank corps in issue 1. Al was in the army tank corps back during WWII.

[cobalt-blue]

Ah... cool then. I still think it's the most refreshing take on the DC Universe in a while. I've fallen in love with the title and hope they continue it. I also like the link between Huntress and Power Girl in Earth 1.

[JetstreamGW]

I think that's supposed to be CAPTAIN Atom.

What Kenn said. Also, if he were Captain Atom, he'd be Nathaniel Adam, not Al Pratt

[Cobalt]

Not to poo on your opinions (everyone's got them, and yours are as valid as anyone else), but I really don't care for Earth 2.

I was upset when the reboot happened that the JSA were initially missing. Now I see why. I do not like what they've done with the characters, the costumes or the history. The JSA members have had a long standing role as elder statesmen of the DC universe. They ditched that .. But I get why.. Even though they were totally rewriting my favorite characters, I gave it a shot.

Jay as a slacker college kid? Why not..deity given powers? Sure. Costume is an eyesore.
Alan as an uber successful media mogul? Not a huge stretch. He's Gay? OK, though that is going to negate Jade and Obsidian most likely. I got really irritated how they made such a big deal out of his sexuality, though. He's not even close to the first gay hero ( Northstar was the first I remember,,but there may have been earlier ones). Hell, his son in the previous universe is gay. I thought they used it as a cheap gimmick. They were clever about using the wedding ring as his focus. That I thought was clever. The rest of the costume though?? Ugh!
Atom as a grower? I guess it's a spin on his legacy family from the old universe. I don't like it though. And I miss the old costume.
Too soon to tell about Hawkgirl.. And I'm dying to see what they did to Fate..

I will say making Grundy a diametrically opposing force to GL is clever. He needed to be more than a walking tank to be a serious threat.

In short, no. I don't like what they did with Earth 2. Ive been really let down with this title. Maybe I expected too much. Maybe DC is having problems delivering.

Edit: does it not appear as though they are making Mr Terrific a bad guy? Or maybe we just don't have the whole story yet..

[cobalt-blue]

Actually, according to the writer, the realized that they'd be negating Obsidian from the universe, that was one of the reasons they decided to make him Alan gay. I'm more impressed with the reboot universe as a whole. I'm interested in seeing if this World Army is more of a good guy or a bad guy, and if there is a world government.

[Earth-Two_Kenn]

There are NO elder statesman anywhere. Everyone is a young turk so the teenagers can identify with the "heroes".

I'm glad Robinson is trying to keep a few elements of the characters (Alan getting his power after surviving a train wreck; Al Pratt being in the tank corps) but really this is just one more book with one more re-imagining of established characters.

If my dad wasn't picking up "Earth-2", I wouldn't read it.

Let me know when the heroes that made me love super-heroes are back.


Thank God, I can find them in M&M.

[Cobalt]

Let me know when the heroes that made me love super-heroes are back.


Thank God, I can find them in M&M.

Well said.

[Mr Mole]

If you're grading on the curve, and limiting yourself to the New DC, then Earth 2 is practically Shakespeare... Otherwise, I'd give it a pretty solid C... A few years ago, when I was still actively collecting comics, it would've been a title that I kept picking up, waiting for it to be canceled and die a natural death... More out of morbid curiosity than any particular love of the book... Earth 2 is one of the slightly-less-poorly conceived titles of the New DC... Which, as I say, compared to most of the others, puts it well ahead of the crowd...

[TristanH]

I'm conflicted on it. I've enjoyed the most of the takes on the characters, and I am interested to see where it goes...

...if this were like Earth 46 or something and the JSA I enjoyed were still around. Going with a complete reboot at least lets you know where you are rather than the mess done with Earth-dcNU. Looks like they're tying in the whole red/green/rot aspect here as well with Grundy being the avatar of the rot. It does make sense, even if Alan's power doesn't seemed to be plant powered. If he's still vulnerable to wood, it could be a reason.

As far as stats go, I'd use existing characters as your base, adjusting for the fact they are all new to this stuff.
At least until we get more of an idea of what they can do. I think my biggest beef with all of the dcNu has been the glacial pace of storytelling. Remember when they said they weren't going to write for the trades?

Someone did a comparison somewhere I can't recall that showed what we got the first 12 issues of Superman after the Crisis vs. this reboot. It was very telling how many more stories were told then compared to now over the same span.

[Mr Mole]

Someone did a comparison somewhere I can't recall that showed what we got the first 12 issues of Superman after the Crisis vs. this reboot. It was very telling how many more stories were told then compared to now over the same span.

Going by memory and not doing any real research, I'd have to agree... Superman titles, during the first couple years after Crisis on Infinite Earths, were pretty packed... A lot of it seemed to be a rush to establish what bits and pieces from the old continuity still existed and in what form... Which, as it turned out, was pretty much everything that had come before, with some facelifts and re-imagining... I really enjoyed DC back then... The energy was (generally) positive and much more to my liking... Good times, good times...

[greycrusader]

Remember the first reboot of the DCU was planned for close to two years-and even then there were glitches and unexplained gaps-who replaced WW in the Justice League, were their analogues of Superman and Superboy in the 30th century Legion, what were Power Girl's and Wonder Girl's "real" origins, etc.

This was barely planned out in advance AT ALL-Warner Brothers finally noticed DC hadn't bested Marvel for over eleven years-not even for a month out of a decade. In no uncertain terms, editors and staff writers were told the situation had to change, and radical action was in order to do so. The Flashpoint mini was rewritten midstream to turn it into the "event" that rewrote the DCU.

This seems to have worked for DC in the short term, making them very competitve with the competition, which is also good for the industry as a whole. Long term I am very doubtful. You can't reboot every 3-5 years, and Before Watchman can only be down once (though if they continue to sell well, we WILL see an After Watchman or World of Watchman event.).

All my best.

[cobalt-blue]

Personally, I prefer DC over Marvel. I like what's happening with the new 52. It's a fresh new feel- much more than Marvel.