What's the big deal about Earth 2?

[Vakanai]

Inspired by the Ideal Earth 2 thread. As someone who has never read an Earth 2 title, I'm curious - Why so many fans? What do people love about that earth vs the main, usual, where most stories happen earth?

[sifighter]

Because if you think about it it’s where DC started. Earth 2 is the earth where the golden age of comics started, where we first got Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and a shared universe with the creation of the JSA. It’s the world where DC kind of how we know it got started.

But it’s not just that, it’s a universe where the origin characters got married, they aged, retired, and then we saw a whole new generation grow.

In earth 2 Batman married Catwoman, retired and had a daughter who became Huntress alongside Dick Grayson who stayed as Robin. Superman semi-retired as the editor of his paper and Kara/Powergirl was the new Kryptonian hero of a new generation. Wonder Woman married Steve Trevor and they had a daughter who joined a team with the other JSA members kids...and Star-Spangled Kid. It was a great place of history and legacy that grew until Crisis of Infinite Earths happened.

At least that’s why I liked it anyway.

[Restingvoice]

Because if you think about it it’s where DC started. Earth 2 is the earth where the golden age of comics started, where we first got Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and a shared universe with the creation of the JSA. It’s the world where DC kind of how we know it got started.

But it’s not just that, it’s a universe where the origin characters got married, they aged, retired, and then we saw a whole new generation grow.

In earth 2 Batman married Catwoman, retired and had a daughter who became Huntress alongside Dick Grayson who stayed as Robin. Superman semi-retired as the editor of his paper and Kara/Powergirl was the new Kryptonian hero of a new generation. Wonder Woman married Steve Trevor and they had a daughter who joined a team with the other JSA members kids...and Star-Spangled Kid. It was a great place of history and legacy that grew until Crisis of Infinite Earths happened.

At least that’s why I liked it anyway.

For me, Earth 2 is a world where heroes have grown, matured, and the effects of long-term superheroics can be seen. The combination of old-school JSA characters from WW2 and their next generation is a contrast that is actually timeless since it's parent and child. The linking of the characters to Roosevelt and WW2 also gives the characters a fixed period to draw upon. Modern heroes are stuck on their sliding timeline and what life was like for them growing up can never be fixed.

Obviously that fixed time isn't for everyone and it is a matter of personal preference, but something like 9/11 which was part of current events is now an event from characters' childhood and will become something read about in history books.

So what I want actually already happened. The division between comics where the characters actually grow, and where the characters stay the status quo barring some popular development.

It's just that they decided to erase that up until... Infinite Crisis and New 52 so most people growing up in the 90s or didn't read comic would never know about them beyond what we heard, and instead of associating it with Earth Where Character Development Happened, we associate it with Earth Of Old People (JSA) or Earth Of Previous Generation.

That said, it's not as simple as moving to read Earth 2, because the characters that the 90s generation like doesn't exist in Earth 2. Dick was never Nightwing, there's no Titans, Jason, Tim, Steph, and Damian, no Jon Kent or Chris Kent.

[sifighter]

So what I want actually already happened. The division between comics where the characters actually grow, and where the characters stay the status quo barring some popular development.

It's just that they decided to erase that up until... Infinite Crisis and New 52 so most people growing up in the 90s or didn't read comic would never know about them beyond what we heard, and instead of associating it with Earth Where Character Development Happened, we associate it with Earth Of Old People (JSA) or Earth Of Previous Generation.

That said, it's not as simple as moving to read Earth 2, because the characters that the 90s generation like doesn't exist in Earth 2. Dick was never Nightwing, there's no Titans, Jason, Tim, Steph, and Damian, no Jon Kent or Chris Kent.

Well let me let you in on something, I’m not even 30 yet. My generation was the Young Justice/Geoff Johns Teen Titans era of comics. I didn’t read Earth 2 because it was around in my day, nor did I know there was an earth 2 in the beginning of my reading. I read it because I got introduced to it through Geoff Johns JSA and Infinite Crisis. I found them through the power of interest, research, and the internet and went on from there.

So I don’t think it really matters where we started in reading comics, it’s just where our interests take us. I’m a proponent of the legacy of DC so that was where I went. Maybe there is no Titans, Tim, Steph, Damian or Jon but there is Kara/Powergirl, Helena/Huntress, Lyta/Fury, and etc of the Infinity Inc. Just got to give a chance.

[achilles]

Well let me let you in on something, I’m not even 30 yet. My generation was the Young Justice/Geoff Johns Teen Titans era of comics. I didn’t read Earth 2 because it was around in my day, nor did I know there was an earth 2 in the beginning of my reading. I read it because I got introduced to it through Geoff Johns JSA and Infinite Crisis. I found them through the power of interest, research, and the internet and went on from there.

So I don’t think it really matters where we started in reading comics, it’s just where our interests take us. I’m a proponent of the legacy of DC so that was where I went. Maybe there is no Titans, Tim, Steph, Damian or Jon but there is Kara/Powergirl, Helena/Huntress, Lyta/Fury, and etc of the Infinity Inc. Just got to give a chance.

Well said!

[captchuck]

I was always interested in what came before. I liked seeing how DC Comics were when they started. I am also interested in the World War II era in general.

[Icefan]

So I don’t think it really matters where we started in reading comics, it’s just where our interests take us. I’m a proponent of the legacy of DC so that was where I went. Maybe there is no Titans, Tim, Steph, Damian or Jon but there is Kara/Powergirl, Helena/Huntress, Lyta/Fury, and etc of the Infinity Inc. Just got to give a chance.

If you have an Earth 2 that precedes in real time, realistically, the Infinity Inc. "kids" should be in their late-fifties or sixties. They're Super Boomers.

[Jon Clark]

If you have an Earth 2 that precedes in real time, realistically, the Infinity Inc. "kids" should be in their late-fifties or sixties. They're Super Boomers.

The problem was that the "real time" wasn't quite part of Earth-2 stories in the 1960s, so no one gave Batman a kid until 1978, the rest of Infinity were not conceived until the 1980s. Then Crisis happened and the Infinitors got lumped in with the unaging Modern Age characters.

The original characters of Earth-2 (JSA, All-Star Squadron) were largely based on actual published stories that gave them a history to draw on. If we were to try that now the question is whether to make up 30+ years out of whole cloth or to restart as if 1986's Crisis was the last appearance of Earth-2 and all the heroes' lives since have been frozen?

Go with the "real time" since the 1930's based largely on published stuff only or treat it as some new Elseworlds where someone like Geoff Johns (or Grant Morrison or Scott Snyder ...) gets to make up 1986-2020 events that none of us have seen before.

[Lee Stone]

I liked Earth-2 mainly because it felt more down to Earth to me.
Especially when the stories are set in the Golden Age and they're fighting more pulp-ish villains and regular gangsters.

They also tend to get drawn differently. Costumes are often less spandex and more cotton, leather and denim.

Even the 1991 mini-series, set in the '50s but on clutter-earth (I headcanon it into Earth-2's Golden Age, though), felt real grounded to me.

[dswynne]

"Earth-2" is the idealized version of what a hero should be, not what the era the hero exists in.

[king81992]

Well let me let you in on something, I’m not even 30 yet. My generation was the Young Justice/Geoff Johns Teen Titans era of comics. I didn’t read Earth 2 because it was around in my day, nor did I know there was an earth 2 in the beginning of my reading. I read it because I got introduced to it through Geoff Johns JSA and Infinite Crisis. I found them through the power of interest, research, and the internet and went on from there.

So I don’t think it really matters where we started in reading comics, it’s just where our interests take us. I’m a proponent of the legacy of DC so that was where I went. Maybe there is no Titans, Tim, Steph, Damian or Jon but there is Kara/Powergirl, Helena/Huntress, Lyta/Fury, and etc of the Infinity Inc. Just got to give a chance.

With Infinity Inc around, an Earth 2 version of the Titans/ TT would be redundant but I'd love to read a book about Titans/ TT and Outsiders Earth 2.

[Restingvoice]

Well let me let you in on something, I’m not even 30 yet. My generation was the Young Justice/Geoff Johns Teen Titans era of comics. I didn’t read Earth 2 because it was around in my day, nor did I know there was an earth 2 in the beginning of my reading. I read it because I got introduced to it through Geoff Johns JSA and Infinite Crisis. I found them through the power of interest, research, and the internet and went on from there.

So I don’t think it really matters where we started in reading comics, it’s just where our interests take us. I’m a proponent of the legacy of DC so that was where I went. Maybe there is no Titans, Tim, Steph, Damian or Jon but there is Kara/Powergirl, Helena/Huntress, Lyta/Fury, and etc of the Infinity Inc. Just got to give a chance.

I've been going back to the Golden Age because current continuity suck so I may get there eventually

[sifighter]

I've been going back to the Golden Age because current continuity suck so I may get there eventually

If you do I hope you enjoy it, be warned you won’t find a main earth 2 JSA the ongoing series though. The main earth 2 stuff is in All-Star Comics, All-Star Squadron, Justice League crossovers, and probably a few others I’m forgetting until Infinity Inc gets a title.

[CaptCleghorn]

Inspired by the Ideal Earth 2 thread. As someone who has never read an Earth 2 title, I'm curious - Why so many fans? What do people love about that earth vs the main, usual, where most stories happen earth?

For me, Earth 2 is a world where heroes have grown, matured, and the effects of long-term superheroics can be seen. The combination of old-school JSA characters from WW2 and their next generation is a contrast that is actually timeless since it's parent and child. The linking of the characters to Roosevelt and WW2 also gives the characters a fixed period to draw upon. Modern heroes are stuck on their sliding timeline and what life was like for them growing up can never be fixed.

Obviously that fixed time isn't for everyone and it is a matter of personal preference, but something like 9/11 which was part of current events is now an event from characters' childhood and will become something read about in history books.

[caj]

sifighter and CaptCleghorn pretty much said it perfectly.