Nah. The Golden Age Thorn died.
But her legacy lived on in her 2 out of 3 kids: Obsidian, Jade (died and came back), Mayflower (died and yet to return).
While the GA Earth-Two version did die pre-Crisis, the multiple shifts in reality including and since COIE make anything possible. Also, Bendis' introduction of the immortality factor makes the single Rose/Thorn character the simplest solution. Suicide? While looking successful, it didn't work. Lines said in a book can be retconned.
Rose/Thorn is a character that needs some fleshing out in the post-Flashpoint era. Is the LSH Rose Todd and Jennie's mother? That's the question. If I was writing, I'd lean towards yes as that is the simplest solution. I personally do not like the whole soap opera aspect of Todd and Jennie's births so I don't want to imagine the mechanics of Alan not knowing who she was and now dealing with his own sexuality. It is a mess for me.
It's not a mess for me. Just because you can't grok it doesn't oblige anybody at DC to retcon something that literally NOBODY ELSE has had any trouble understanding for what, 35 to 50 years?
There were Golden Age villains called Star Sapphire and Evil Star who, surprise surprise, had nothing whatsoever to do with the Silver Age villains with the same names, either. Do you insist they need to be retconned into always being the same characters, too? Hey, lets go whole hog and retcon all the Golden Age characters into being the same characters who had the same hero and villain names in the Silver Age, no matter how different they were! It's too hard and confusing to tell them apart, right?
There's a reason comics companies don't take ideas from their audience. 99 to 100 percent of them are just too damn stupid.
That's a really good idea - a true writer-ly solution. And extending the earlier analogy, very Mad Men-esque. The only storytelling challenge there is time - tolerance for the LGBTQ community did not even begin until like the late 70s? Early 80s? And it wasn't really...real until the last decade plus. So for the first 40+ years, Alan's story will include a lot of "humanity has yet to evolve...but perhaps one day" notes. Which isn't necessarily bad - it's honest. Just lacking in resolution for a lengthy period.
A workaround would be to show the DCU's morality progress along faster than our world, in part due to the diversity and morality of its superhero role models. Although some might consider that softening history.
Another option, depending on DC's plans, would be to set 1-2 years of stories in the 1940s, and then flash forward to the 1970s and beyond - show the changes in society through the JSA's eyes. Something like DC The New Frontier, but set over several decades instead of just a few years. That could be amazing.
Agreed with the first part, and I hope the intent is to tell a sprawling epic about the nature of the world, its evolution, and how our fictional superheroes fit in. If it's anything like DC New Frontier, then - great. But if the intent is to show the era the JSA comes from as a villain in the story? That would be in really, really bad taste. We are all products of our environment, our upbringing, and our genetic history. That's true now, it was just as true then.
As an aside re Mad Men: I'm actually re-watching it now with my Hungarian wife, who grew up without much access to - or interest in - western media. Mad Men is the best thing she's ever seen from the US - because it is literary in scope, and its characters are real. I don't see the characters as morally repugnant - generally. If you look at the character failures of, say, Don Draper and study his background and upbringing...they have clear origins, and make sense. If I'd had the early life he had, I probably would have turned out much the same. (The old saw about walking a mile in a man's shoes, etc.) Ditto the remaining characters. Even Pete Campbell, although he's pretty reprehensible most of the time.
Let me be clear about my feelings for Thorn as Jade and Obsidian's mother. I understand and get it fine. I just don't like it. That is a personal thing. There's a big difference between what I would like to see vs, what DC should do. There's a lot going on with putting together dozens of series that I'm not aware of so "should" is something I try not to go there. However, I have no problem with "I like" or "I dislike".
As for the Earth Two and Earth One Rose's there were a lot closer together than just having the same codename. There's currently a Rose/Thorn hanging with the Legion who is part of the continuity. It may be the highest profile any of those characters have ever had. A Rose/Thorn was Todd and Jennie's mother. With Todd and Jennie seen in DClock and presumably coming back and Alan sexuality seemingly being part of his character, the kid's mother is a natural question.
I also am not posting ideas to try to sell DC. I know where I am on the comic writer's level of talent. My posting here is to hopefully get some other posters to go "cool".
Darwyn's New Frontier and Robinson's Golden Age are exactly what I was thinking, too.
I mean, yeah, this idea could be done badly, but I'd rather hope for the best than assume the worst. Based upon this story, I think they're off to a pretty good start. Granted, Gary Frank elevates everything.
What really bugs me is Obsidian.
E2 Alan Scott was created as a homosexual character because Obsidian could not be part of earth-2.
Now that regular Alan Scott is homosexual and Obsidian could reappear in continuity again, will they make him homosexual again? Wouldn't it be a cue for those bizarrely homophobic arguments like 'gay parents make their children become gay as well'?
Educational town, Rolemodel city and Moralofthestory land are the places where good comics go to die.
DC writers and editors looked up and shouted "Save us!"
And Alan Moore looked down and whispered "No."
I'm kinda surprised Snyder didn't want Superman to watch Lois and Bruce conceive their love child. All the while singing the "Na na na na na na Batman!" theme song - Robotman, 03/06/2021
Why wasn't Jade and Obsidian in the Green Lantern 80 Anniversary special.Jade has the same power set n was a Green Lantern once.
I would hope we're at the point when we can just shrug and say, sometimes a gay parent has a gay child and it doesn't mean anything but the law of averages. I once knew a lesbian with two lesbian daughters. It happens.
I wouldn't want the comics written to appease bigoted people anyways, because you're never going to win those people over with any diversity anyways.
I just read most of it, some good stories in there. I like the one where Hal sends out all those messages only to find out he's in Vegas.