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  1. #1
    A Wearied Madness Vakanai's Avatar
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    Default What's the big deal about Earth 2?

    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?

  2. #2
    Ultimate Member sifighter's Avatar
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    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.
    "It's fun and it's cool, so that's all that matters. It's what comics are for, Duh."
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  3. #3
    insulin4all CaptCleghorn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Vakanai View Post
    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.

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    sifighter and CaptCleghorn pretty much said it perfectly.

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    Astonishing Member WillieMorgan's Avatar
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    Like has been said above, it ended up becoming the foundation stone of the entire mythology of DC and was very important in helping to establish the 'legacy' element of the company.

    It's also one of the planes of the Multiverse, one of the many concepts that fascinated me as a child alongside things like the Legion of Super Heroes and the GLC and Guardians Of The Universe. The pre-teen me loved these ideas and they still resonate strongly with me to this day. Each plane of the multiverse is like a fresh playground for ideas and endless possibilities.
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  6. #6
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    I'll also add that every year in Justice League of America, you could look forward to an adventure with both the JLA and the Justice Society of Earth-2 when members of each would team up together. Some of the best stories of the silver and bronze age.

  7. #7
    Astonishing Member phantom1592's Avatar
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    I would also add that there is less continuity. Mostly because there were less stories. But you had a whole new world with characters that hadn't gone through 2-3 reboots yet. JSA was JSA... Alan Scott and Carter Hall were showing up there... but they didn't have their own books and weren't guest starring in a dozen other books at the same time... Unlike Hal and Katar. It was a lot more self contained. It was a lot like comparing the Ultimate Universe with it's 3-4 books vs. 616 marvel with it's 50 years of continuity and 40 active books.

  8. #8
    Extraordinary Member superduperman's Avatar
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    I read this in a Seinfeld voice.

    To me, I like the idea of heroes who have been around since their debut in the comics. There's something fascinating about a Superman who really has been around since 1938 or a Green Lantern who's been around since 1940. You have decades of adventures to work with.
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  9. #9
    Astonishing Member phantom1592's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by superduperman View Post
    I read this in a Seinfeld voice.

    To me, I like the idea of heroes who have been around since their debut in the comics. There's something fascinating about a Superman who really has been around since 1938 or a Green Lantern who's been around since 1940. You have decades of adventures to work with.
    Honestly, that's the aspect I don't care much for. I like the simpler technology of a Batman before facial recognition satellites and stuff like that... but unless their 'current calendar' is set in the 50-60's.. I don't like characters being around 'THAT long.' I need a good sliding timeline to make it beleiveable. Sure, Superman could have been around since 1938.... but i have zero interest in a Lois and Jimmy in their 90's too. For me, a character is usually just as good as thier supporting cast, and making htem immortal like that ruins things for me.

  10. #10
    Extraordinary Member Restingvoice's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sifighter View Post
    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.
    Quote Originally Posted by CaptCleghorn View Post
    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.

  11. #11
    Ultimate Member sifighter's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Restingvoice View Post
    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.
    "It's fun and it's cool, so that's all that matters. It's what comics are for, Duh."
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  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by sifighter View Post
    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!

  13. #13
    Fantastic Member captchuck's Avatar
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    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.

  14. #14
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    I don't know about you, but isn't there something so fascinating about finding a whole bunch of comics and characters that you knew nothing about and then getting new stories about those characters that tell what happened next and where their lives took them?

    I think of something like Terra Obscura in ABC's TOM STRONG--it was pretty neat to have Tom meet up with Tom Strange and all the other heroes and to know that this was based on the original America's Best Comics. Or, to use another Alan Moore example, his League of Extraordinary Gentlemen that was a group of public domain characters from the 19th century. And then there's WATCHMEN--which is alternate versions of the Charlton super-heroes--just imagine if the Watchmen met the Charlton Action Heroes.

    Or what if the Astro City heroes had all actually been published by a comic book company in the 1940s and 1950s?

    Does that help to see why readers were so jazzed about the Justice Society of America appearing on their own Earth called Two?

  15. #15
    Fantastic Member Icefan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sifighter View Post
    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.

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