Not the article. The pictures. It really does seem, based on not just this but all the publicity pictures I’ve seen, that everyone in the Nu52 has only one expression, and it’s “perpetual grimace”. Seriously, you could make an animated gif of nothing but DC characters making inadvertently hilarious facial expression, and it would probably take about five minutes to loop around. Nobody ever smiles in the new DC universe. Nobody laughs, or jokes. Everyone is Serious and Angry, all the time.
Or in the case of the Superman pictured there, has accidentally stepped on a pile of Legos in the dark. Or possibly whanged his shin on the corner of a desk. Either one.
EDIT: And Wonder Woman has clearly just gotten the end of ‘Serenity’ spoiled for her. “I just discovered the series, you bastards! I’m only up through ‘Out of Gas’! And you just drop ‘Oh, man, it killed me when Wash died’ in the middle of conversation like that?!”
Batman? It’s January in Gotham. Swirling winds around the bus stop. And the bus is officially now twenty-seven fucking minutes late.
Twenty-eight now.
I will admit, though, that Jay and Alan’s expressions make sense. Presumably, the missing word balloons are, “FALLING! FALLING INTO RATS!!!!” and “OH MY GOD MY HAND IS ON FIRE!!!!!”
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Was it you or Mr. Bird who referred to this New DC as “extreme?” That word seems to encapsulate it, and your post supports the word choice — “extreme” in the absurd 90’s way. As a kid who grew up on 90’s comics, there were some great ideas in the first half of that decade. But the 90’s editors aren’t going with the good ones. I guess they feel they need to justify their past experiments by trying it again?
By 90’s editors, I meant “New DC editors” but many of them are in the intersection of that Venn diagram.
I AM FILLED WITH RAGE BEHOLD MY MULTITUDE OF TEETH
Wonder Woman’s mom just told her she’s not going out dressed like that and to march right on upstairs and put on a sensible toga and WW is all “YOU’RE RUINING MY LIFE I HATE YOU I HATE YOU!!!”
Then she will lock herself in her room and add another few cuts to her arm, there.
Batman is changing the head on his Sonicare toothbrush and just discovered the foul-smelling grey slush of spit and toothpaste that can get in there. I do not know why he is stabbing a Hairy Man from BONE.
Superman is very sleepy.
Jay is confused as to why a bunch of rats are also very fast, but going to stuff a whole one in his mouth nevertheless.
Alan didn’t pay enough attention to Adam and Jamie’s warning at the start of the show.
This is what you get when you hand the creator of the freaking Wildstorm universe the keys to DC. I can only imagine Lee’s first edict as co-publisher was: “more extreme, more fiddly bits on the costumes, more grimacing, or get the fuck out”
Nah, Alan Scott’s not in pain. He’s going, “MY HAND IS ON FIRE! WHO WANTS TO DIE FIRST?”
@ C. Carter: I believe it’s spelled “X-Treme!!!!!” or something of that ilk.
Putting aside the main point here for a moment… What the fuck is the point of an Earth-2 contemporary young Justice Society when we have Earth-1 (not the graphic novels, just the main DCU) Justice League that are all young superheroes?
I mean, wasn’t the main appeal of JSA the last 20 years the whole generational aspect, where the “heroes of yesterday train the heroes of tomorrow?” And before that, wasn’t the appeal of Earth-2 seeing Superman and Batman etc all grown up, and time being able to have passed on that earth to allow room for new characters?
This basically seems like “hey, here’s a variation on JLA where some of the secret identities of the same characters are changed.”
In the DCnU, EVERYONE IS SHOUTING ALL THE TIME.
In the DCnU, even Delirium is ANGRY.
In the DCnu, continuity is wearing the biggest pained grimace of all.
I am fully expecting their “Wildcat” cover to show Ted Grant being fisted by Tawky Tawny. There’s a theme progression to be followed.
So is it funnier that Jim Lee has Wildstormed DC, or that one of the Image founders fired a dude for not toeing the company line?
I haven’t seen Serenity yet. Thanks. *grimace*
It’s like the Didiot said “Comics sold great in the early 90s, so let’s do those comics again!”
Also, while I love the JSA, even the youngest Golden Agers are well into their 90s, and probably should be in a home. I know DC eliminated all of them without mystical/pseudoscientific reason to still be fighting crime, but still…
“Nobody laughs, or jokes. Everyone is Serious and Angry, all the time.”
There’s probably a reason: anyone smiling or joking is either not working hard, or not fully informed of the situation. That could apply to either the Nu52…or the DC offices.
I Should Write Superman Idea #30:
Less Shock, More Rock
New Jack say-DC sucks monkey nuts.
Y’know, it just fully hit me now that we really are now living in a mirror image of the 90s: Image is the new hotness again and EXTREME bullshit is forcibly back in style, only now Image is where all the fun/exciting/awesome stuff is coming from and DC is mired in the decade’s worst excesses. Which isn’t to say DC doesn’t have some fantastic books going right now, but still.
I just never saw the point to the reboot in the first place. Stupid, stupid, stupid…
I agree that a same-age-as-JLA JSA loses a lot of interest. There are plenty of ways to get around the age problem. Or they could just be on the second generation already, and have Infinity Inc. replacing their parents, someone else in Dr. Fate’s helmet, etc.
And yes, John, you have a point about the dreadful seriousness of it all. And the grimacing.
Or! They could be ‘Nam vets, with only certain members (the immortal Alan Scott and Hippolyta, for instance) staying WW2.
I will say, having read Earth 2 #1 I kind of see the point of what they’re doing with it, but I still am dubious if it will actually work.
Jay’s wondering what the hell happened to his costume. He’s asking, “Where’s my T-shirt? Where’s my hat?”
That’s Jay Garrick?
I was wondering if this was some fashion-sense deficient illegitimate child of Impulse and Youngblood or something.
Staying the hell away from DC for the next 5 years or so, I guess.
Ugh!
Dammit, failed to close the bold tag.
*woe*
I can see why they would want to ditch the classic Alan Scott costume since some people didn’t like it, but what they came up with instead doesn’t exactly make me want to rush out and buy the comic.
I know the Golden Age Green Lantern used to brand dudes with his ring and get into fist fights, but that whole “I’m the Kingdom Come version and I’m pissed” vibe in that picture doesn’t work for me after decades of Alan Scott being a pretty laid back guy.
And I have to agree about Jay Garrick. I never liked his hat, but what they came up with instead is really stupid.
I used to love Starman, so knowing James Robinson is attached to this should make me cautiously optimistic. But considering everything he has done since Starman, I don’t think I’ll be buying his series.
It seems to me that the best way to go with a JSA reboot would be to bring in Howard Chaykin as a co-writer and do everything you can to give the series an authentic 1940s vibe.
Instead, Robinson seems to be going in the direction of keeping a few names the same and ditching everything else. Which is logical, but doesn’t sound very entertaining.
@Sumguy: For a long time now, the JSA concept hasn’t worked for me because of things like how freakin’ old Jay Garrick and his wife would have to be, so making them Baby Boomers instead has some appeal. Then, if you wanted to use the Infinity, Inc. characters it would make more sense because it wasn’t like they all waited until they were old enough to collect Social Security to finally have kids.
I know the connection to World War II matters a lot to some fans, but if you’re not really going to do anything with that history it just creates problems for people like me who overthink things.
Some of the issues I had with the JSA don’t matter any more thanks to the reboot, but still… if you’re going to tie them into real history from the Thirties and Forties, you need a reason why ridiculously old superheroes are still fighting crime that goes beyond “some people still like these characters.”
What’s weird is that the only DC comic I was reading before the reboot was “Secret Six” — which seems like it would fit right into the whole grim and X-Treme vibe of the nu52 — but I totally agree with everything Seavey said.
Which is why now I only read licensed titles from IDW and Dynamite, because when a title is licensed you have caretakers to make sure the comic book people don’t screw it up.
Having the JSA get their start in the Vietnam Era or the 1980s was one of the alternatives I thought about, though it obviously takes work (the Vietcong, after all, was hardly the existential threat the Axis were). But that could give it the different feel the reboot’s supposed to have, of course.
Oh dear God. If that’s Jay’s costume, the speed force needs to kill somebody.
“Perpetual grimace” is DC’s version of Pat Lee’s “dull surprise.”
Why not include the images within the post rather than send us hunting for them on DC’s page? Sort of spoils the joke when I have to switch pages to see the image and punchline.
Anyone actually read Earth 2, or is this just a general gripe thread?
Because while there are modifications to Jay/Alan, the characterisations aren’t that bad. Even if there’s a moment with Jay which is so ridiculously, hilariously ‘um, huh’ that I fell off the chair laughing!
So “Earth-2” is essentially an ongoing “Elseworlds” series? Eh, why not. Could be worse.
Re: nineties redux: who yearns for the return of Saliva Strand Syndrome? Seriously.
So, much like NBC, the comics industry wants to make it the 90s again through science or magic.
Do they not remember how this worked out the last time?
@Frasier:
P’raps it could be a “back for the first time!” kinda book. They went in EXPECTING the Nazis, what they got were a bunch of scared but angry civilians who only became even moreso when you whipped out a power ring. This might cause members to throw their support behind the anti-war movement, and get the team disbanded by the government.
Admittedly, it’s a very different feel, but it does manage to jump “war vet heroes who broke up when the world didn’t want them” far enough that they don’t need to be immortal.
For that matter, I’m not digging these outfits. Okay, JSA outfits have always been dorky, but they’re an appealing, retro kind of dorky, that says, “It was cool in the 40s; that’s good enough for me.” Jay Garrick in particular looks less like Hermes the Greek god and more like Hermes in that one Futurama episode.