EARTH 2: SOCIETY #3 Preview & Some Designs

[Doctor Kent Nelson]

One would have thought the worst possible Batman costume had been invented and couldn't be topped. One would be wrong. WTH is up with his mask?! Kyle Rayner's crab mask is more Batman than the E-2 Batman design. Just horrible.

But, having lapped up anything to do with JSA or Earth Two prior to New 52, every single thing about this new world of new characters with familiar names is like nails on a chalkboard to me. E-2 is, to me, the most unreadable thing DC publishes anymore and that's really a shame since it's taken the place of one of the best things DC has published (in so many different incarnations) re: JSA.

Everything about this title bums me out. It's unsurprising. James Robinson, who could once do no wrong, has had the opposite of the Midas touch with everything he's done from Cry for Justice forward. I will be so happy when this failed experiment goes the way of Team Titans (or whatever) so DC can finally give up on this botch-up and get back to telling great stories about the characters we all love.

Patience padawan

[Doctor Kent Nelson]

Did you really go there?

I think the new Earth 2 batman still has the worst costume

[Conway]

Thank you. I appreciate the info. I really enjoy the character from what little I've read of him so I was interested to hear more about his backstory. Did he turn up in the Earth 2 book first or World's End, in case I was interested in reading his journey so far?

In Earth 2 a few months before World's End started. Not sure about the issue # but I think it was around 9 or 10.

[hypkin]

this book is my worst dc nightmare ever come true.

we've traded many classic characters for some over-the-top 90s image-liefeld abomination.

[lorddominicus85]

I'd be interested in someone doing the research to see which book sells better. JSA pre New52 or the Earth 2 books. Because if Earth 2 is currently out selling JSA then clamoring for the return of the classic character is really a wasted effort.

I think the thing people need to remember when lamenting the loss of their preferred version of a character is comic books aren't specifically written for your individual taste or desire, they are written to attract as many people as humanly possible to make it's parent company money. And to be honest before the New 52 came out I had only a basic knowledge of the JSA and the characters involved with them because honestly the continuity wasn't worth it to me to get involved in. There was just too much that I'd missed out on and it didn't seem worth it to try and catch up. When DC launched Earth 2 I was immediately drawn in to check out this new spin on classic characters that I could watch evolve from the ground up. Now whether or not the book has been handled well since volume one issue one is a completely different debate. The point is the book did it's job in getting people who had no idea who Alan Scott (Or anyone else) was to read this book and fall in love with the character.

I feel like it would be much more beneficial to individual readers to stop reading this book with the hope of their previous incarnations coming back to replace them. We are too far into the relaunch now for DC to go back and introduce a whole other world of lesser known characters for a second time. It's unfortunate if you don't like it, I don't like every decision marvel or dc make about some of my favorite characters either but at the end of the day their company's trying to make as much money as possible and the only message I can send that they will understand is to not give them my money.

That being said, I really like the book and wish some of the people on here would give it a chance before saying "That is't my JSA" because their not meant to be. I feel like this book has a lot of potential and given the chance to flourish I think it could be one of the better books DC puts out, it just needs time to grow. World's End was a huge game changer, a big reset almost and for me at least it's been a fun ride so far.

[Lee Stone]

Pulled from several years of The Beat's Month-to-Month:

12/2006: Justice Society #1 -- 102,990 ( 107.7%) [108,140]
01/2007: Justice Society #2 -- 86,180 (- 16.3%) [ 92,459]
02/2007: Justice Society #3 -- 84,356 (- 2.1%) [ 86,014]
03/2007: Justice Society #4 -- 84,449 ( 0.1%) [ 86,475]
04/2007: Justice Society #5 -- 98,069 ( 16.1%) [102,275]
05/2007: Justice Society #6 -- 96,900 (- 1.2%) [ 99,784]
06/2007: --
07/2007: Justice Society #7 -- 88,883 (- 8.3%)
08/2007: Justice Society #8 -- 87,606 (- 1.4%)
09/2007: Justice Society #9 -- 84,117 (- 4.0%)
10/2007: Justice Society #10 -- 99,424 (+ 18.2%)
11/2007: --
12/2007: Justice Society #11 -- 89,613 (- 9.9%)
01/2008: --
02/2008: Justice Society #12 -- 84,162 (- 6.1%)
02/2008: Justice Society #13 -- 82,702 (- 1.7%)
03/2008: --
04/2008: Justice Society #14 -- 80,507 (- 2.7%)
05/2008: Justice Society #15 -- 78,311 (- 2.7%)
06/2008: Justice Society #16 -- 77,328 (- 1.3%)
07/2008: Justice Society #17 -- 75,532 (- 2.3%)
08/2008: Justice Society #18 -- 73,485 (- 2.7%)
09/2008: --
10/2008: Justice Society #19 -- 72,073 (- 1.9%)
11/2008: Justice Society #20 -- 71,355 (- 1.0%)
12/2008: Justice Society #21 -- 69,662 (- 2.4%)
12/2008: Justice Society #22 -- 67,615 (- 2.9%)
01/2009: Justice Society #23 -- 61,385 (- 9.2%)
02/2009: Justice Society #24 -- 65,207 (+ 6.2%)
03/2009: --
04/2009: Justice Society #25 -- 65,713 (+ 0.8%)
04/2009: Justice Society #26 -- 81,200 (+ 23.6%)
05/2009: Justice Society #27 -- 56,102 (- 30.9%)
06/2009: Justice Society #28 -- 52,673 (- 6.1%)
07/2009: Justice Society #29 -- 51,375 (- 2.5%)
08/2009: Justice Society #30 -- 49,416 (- 3.8%)
09/2009: Justice Society #31 -- 47,436 (- 4.0%)
10/2009: Justice Society #32 -- 44,885 (- 5.4%)
11/2009: Justice Society #33 -- 43,218 (- 3.7%)
12/2009: Justice Society #34 -- 41,734 (- 3.4%)
01/2010: Justice Society #35 -- 39,934 (- 4.3%)
02/2010: Justice Society #36 -- 39,060 (- 2.2%)
03/2010: Justice Society #37 -- 37,381 (- 4.3%)
04/2010: Justice Society #38 -- 36,648 (- 2.0%)
05/2010: --
06/2010: Justice Society #39 -- 36,630 (- 0.1%)
06/2010: Justice Society #40 -- 36,008 (- 1.7%)
07/2010: Justice Society #41 -- 48,858 (+ 35.7%)
08/2010: Justice Society #42 -- 48,420 (- 0.9%)
09/2010: Justice Society #43 -- 36,576 (- 24.5%)
10/2010: Justice Society #44 -- 35,483 (- 3.0%)
11/2010: Justice Society #45 -- 33,582 (- 5.4%)
12/2010: Justice Society #46 -- 31,497 (- 6.2%)
01/2011: Justice Society #47 -- 30,071 (- 4.5%)
02/2011: Justice Society #48 -- 29,139 (- 3.1%)
03/2011: Justice Society #49 -- 28,634 (- 1.7%)
04/2011: Justice Society #50 -- 32,251 (+ 12.6%)
05/2011: Justice Society #51 -- 28,256 (- 12.4%)
06/2011: Justice Society #52 -- 27,195 (- 3.8%)
07/2011: Justice Society #53 -- 26,516 (- 2.5%)
08/2011: Justice Society #54 -- 25,584 (- 3.5%)

05/2012: Earth 2 #1 -- 95,742 [102,490]
06/2012: Earth 2 #2 -- 75,936 (-20.7%) [ 84,740]
07/2012: Earth 2 #3 -- 74,892 (- 1.4%)
08/2012: Earth 2 #4 -- 67,393 (-10.0%)
09/2012: Earth 2 #0 -- 69,111 (+ 2.6%)
10/2012: Earth 2 #5 -- 61,529 (-11.0%)
11/2012: Earth 2 #6 -- 58,271 (- 4.8%)
12/2012: Earth 2 #7 -- 54,409 (- 6.6%)
01/2013: Earth 2 #8 -- 50,860 (- 6.5%)
02/2013: Earth 2 #9 -- 48,208 (- 5.2%)
03/2013: Earth 2 #10 -- 46,213 (- 4.1%)
04/2013: Earth 2 #11 -- 45,468 (- 1.6%)
05/2013: Earth 2 #12 -- 43,983 (- 3.3%)
06/2013: Earth 2 #13 -- 42,916 (- 2.4%)
07/2013: Earth 2 #14 -- 42,022 (- 2.1%)
08/2013: Earth 2 #15 -- 40,845 (- 2.8%)
09/2013: #15.1: Desd -- 51,850 (+ 26.9%)
09/2013: #15.2: SlGr -- 52,369 (+ 1.0%)
10/2013: Earth 2 #16 -- 38,389 (- 26.7%)
11/2013: Earth 2 #17 -- 39,846 (+ 3.8%)
12/2013: Earth 2 #18 -- 37,130 (- 6.8%)
01/2014: Earth 2 #19 -- 36,103 (- 2.8%)
02/2014: Earth 2 #20 -- 35,732 (- 1.0%)
03/2014: Earth 2 #21 -- 35,295 (- 1.2%)
04/2014: Earth 2 #22 -- 34,970 (- 0.9%)
05/2014: Earth 2 #23 -- 34,531 (- 1.3%)
06/2014: Earth 2 #24 -- 47,277 (+ 36.9%)
07/2014: Earth 2 #25 -- 39,726 (- 16.0%)
08/2014: Earth 2 #26 -- 37,396 (- 5.9%)
09/2014: Futures End #1 -- 65,212 (+ 73.7%)
10/2014: Earth 2 #27 -- 37,925 (- 41.6%)
11/2014: Earth 2 #28 -- 31,722 (- 16.4%)
12/2014: Earth 2 #29 -- 30,273 (- 4.6%)
01/2015: Earth 2 #30 -- 28,618 (- 5.5%)
02/2015: Earth 2 #31 -- 27,513 (- 3.9%)
03/2015: Earth 2 #32 -- 27,361 (- 0.6%)
04/2015: --
05/2015: --
06/2015: E2 Society #1 -- 45,102 (+ 64.8%)
----------------
07/2015: Earth 2 Society #2 -- 31,663

[vartox]

I'd be interested in someone doing the research to see which book sells better. JSA pre New52 or the Earth 2 books. Because if Earth 2 is currently out selling JSA then clamoring for the return of the classic character is really a wasted effort.

Here's some sales numbers...

57 Earth 2 Society 1* $2.99 DC 41,002
74 Earth 2 Society 2 $2.99 DC 31,663

11 Earth 2 1* $3.99 DC 86,168
19 Earth 2 2* $2.99 DC 68,342
43 Earth 2 17 $2.99 DC 39,846 (Taylor's first issue)
83 Earth 2 32 $2.99 DC 27,361 (final issue)

57 Earth 2 Worlds End 1* $2.99 DC 43,863
72 Earth 2 Worlds End 2* $2.99 DC 36,536
82 Earth 2 Worlds End 3* $2.99 DC 34,996
83 Earth 2 Worlds End 4* $2.99 DC 34,431
98 Earth 2 Worlds End 22 $2.99 DC 23,814
99 Earth 2 Worlds End 23 $2.99 DC 23,765
100 Earth 2 Worlds End 24 $2.99 DC 23,652
101 Earth 2 Worlds End 25 $2.99 DC 23,529
120 Earth 2 Worlds End 26 $3.99 DC 25,472


19 Justice Society of America 27 $2.99 DC 56,102 (first issue after Geoff left)
38 Justice Society of America 32 $2.99 DC 44,858
74 Justice Society of America 53 $2.99 DC 26,516 (last issue)


Earth 2's first launch did REALLY well. Society is performing at less than half of those numbers. When World's End launched the main E2 book dropped 10k in sales between that and its end. Adding more and more Superman and Batman characters doesn't seem like it helped sales at all, destroying the planet didn't result in good or higher sales, World's End had poor reviews all the way through.

I think the thing people need to remember when lamenting the loss of their preferred version of a character is comic books aren't specifically written for your individual taste or desire, they are written to attract as many people as humanly possible to make it's parent company money. And to be honest before the New 52 came out I had only a basic knowledge of the JSA and the characters involved with them because honestly the continuity wasn't worth it to me to get involved in. There was just too much that I'd missed out on and it didn't seem worth it to try and catch up. When DC launched Earth 2 I was immediately drawn in to check out this new spin on classic characters that I could watch evolve from the ground up. Now whether or not the book has been handled well since volume one issue one is a completely different debate. The point is the book did it's job in getting people who had no idea who Alan Scott (Or anyone else) was to read this book and fall in love with the character.

I was in the same boat. I was only vaguely familiar with the JSA prior to Earth 2's original launch, but I liked it so much I went back and read all the JSA stuff I could get my hands on. I really liked the rebooted versions of Flash, GL and especially Hawkgirl. I liked that THEY were being built up to be the new trinity. I liked the differences between Earth 2 and the main Earth.

I know DC isn't creating books specifically to cater to me. I am just still bitter and upset that Earth 2 WAS something I really, really enjoyed and then it changed into something completely different that I don't like at all and seemed to have no sales benefits that they are continuing to push anyway. The three characters that were set up to be the leads all got pushed to the side and Alan in particular has been treated horribly throughout World's End and Society shows no signs of changing that. Hawkgirl hasn't done anything of note since Earth 2 #13 or so. Jay didn't do anything in World's End except show up at the end to be a selfish whiner and now he feels like a background character. The World Government and all the plots and characters surrounding that are totally gone.

World's End was a huge reset, right back to square one. All the world building the previous run had was totally ruined and now the book is right back at rebuilding after a huge, destabilizing event. Just like Earth 2 #2 was except now the plots and characters I'd been invested in are gone or screwed over and a huge cast that I have no reasons to like and a flimsier plot are in their place. If they were willing to destroy the Earth once what guarantee do I have that it isn't going to happen again when they decide they need a sales boost? Why should I get invested in any of this when the second Wilson leaves everything could change just like when Robinson left and Taylor left?

It isn't just that Earth 2 Society isn't my JSA, it's that it's not my JSA OR my Earth 2 and yet they are trying to pretend it's both of those things.

That being said, I really like the book and wish some of the people on here would give it a chance before saying "That is't my JSA" because their not meant to be. I feel like this book has a lot of potential and given the chance to flourish I think it could be one of the better books DC puts out, it just needs time to grow. World's End was a huge game changer, a big reset almost and for me at least it's been a fun ride so far.

If I thought the book was actually good I might be more willing to give it a chance but I don't think it is. The pacing is atrocious, Wilson's bitten off far more than he can chew with the cast size, the flipping back and forth between flashbacks and the present adds nothing, characterization for many of the characters just isn't good.

If I'm asking for the actual JSA to come back it's because Convergence DID open the door to bring prior versions back. Earth 2 used to feel like a good reboot of Earth 2 and the JSA, it doesn't anymore and I just don't think it's a good book in general.

[Lee Stone]

A few other things to factor in:

Orders on the second issue of the new run was cut as usual, because the first issue hadn't hit the stands, yet.

It's selling (remarkably) well digitally. See this week's best sellers on Comixology.
I attribute that mostly to being one of the more direct follow-ups to Convergence, which also sold well digitally. The other comic that is enjoying better sales digitally due to the Convergence lead-in is Batman Beyond.

Also, remember that the general digital readership is less familiar with the pre-Flashpoint JSA, as DC began same-day digital with the launch of New52. So a lot of the digital readers, especially the new ones brought in by New52, don't have the connection to the JSA that would lead to comparisons. Which may be another reason for it doing better digitally.

[joybeans]

I think DC should just drop all pretense of this being connected to the JSA. I'm actually kind of enjoying this, though it would probably read a lot better in a trade. And it needs to distance itself further from World's End and Convergence.

[joybeans]

A few other things to factor in:

Orders on the second issue of the new run was cut as usual, because the first issue hadn't hit the stands, yet.

It's selling (remarkably) well digitally. See this week's best sellers on Comixology.
I attribute that mostly to being one of the more direct follow-ups to Convergence, which also sold well digitally. The other comic that is enjoying better sales digitally due to the Convergence lead-in is Batman Beyond.

Also, remember that the general digital readership is less familiar with the pre-Flashpoint JSA, as DC began same-day digital with the launch of New52. So a lot of the digital readers, especially the new ones brought in by New52, don't have the connection to the JSA that would lead to comparisons. Which may be another reason for it doing better digitally.

I wish there was a better way to track DC's books on there. I can see Batman, Action Comics, Batman/Superman, Earth 2: Society, and Gotham Academy on the first page. Then Starfire, Constantine: The Hellblazer, Green Arrow, and New Suicide Squad on the second. And Catwoman on the third page. Is there anything I'm missing?

[kivatt]

I really wish that the Superwoman, Huntress, Red Tornado, Red Arrow, and Maybe Val, just maybe him were in a different book doing their own thing.
I really missed when it was about Flash, Green Lantern, and Dr. Fate, and Hawkwoman. Maybe the addition of Fury would be good.

[Lee Stone]

I wish there was a better way to track DC's books on there. I can see Batman, Action Comics, Batman/Superman, Earth 2: Society, and Gotham Academy on the first page. Then Starfire, Constantine: The Hellblazer, Green Arrow, and New Suicide Squad on the second. And Catwoman on the third page. Is there anything I'm missing?

Let's see...

#3 - Batman
#4 - Injustice
#6 - Action Comics
#7 - Bombshells
#8 - Batman/Superman
#11 - Mortal Kombat
#12 - Earth 2
#16 - Gotham Academy
#21 - Injustice
#27 - Batman: Arkham Knight
#33 - Starfire
#34 - Constantine
#36 - Green Arrow
#43 - Bombshells
#44 - JLU
#48 - Suicide Squad
#54 - Sensation Comics
#59 - Red Hood/Arsenal
#71 - Catwoman (which actually charts after a few more Bombshells issues and comics that were part of this week's Bombshells sale)

Note: if you just want a comparison of how well DC titles are doing, relative only to each other, go here and look at the top 40 list at the bottom. It has just the DC titles, in the same order as they are in the charts. Very helpful to see if you overlooked a title.

Also, the best glimpses of the week's comics chart positions can be seen on Saturday and Sunday.

[stephens2177]

This is WORLD building,NOT jsa building,I think that's where the disconnect is.

Yeah they need to get to THIS earths "Justice" team together,the been long enough.

Also needs either a teenage clone of Clark Kent/superman or Damage/grant Morrison

[kivatt]

This is WORLD building,NOT jsa building,I think that's where the disconnect is.

Yeah they need to get to THIS earths "Justice" team together,the been long enough.

Also needs either a teenage clone of Clark Kent/superman or Damage/grant Morrison

The last thing it needs is another Kryptonian

[MajorHoy]

Pulled from several years of The Beat's Month-to-Month . . .

10/2010: Justice Society #44 -- 35,483 (- 3.0%)
11/2010: Justice Society #45 -- 33,582 (- 5.4%)
12/2010: Justice Society #46 -- 31,497 (- 6.2%)
01/2011: Justice Society #47 -- 30,071 (- 4.5%)
02/2011: Justice Society #48 -- 29,139 (- 3.1%)
03/2011: Justice Society #49 -- 28,634 (- 1.7%)
04/2011: Justice Society #50 -- 32,251 (+ 12.6%)
05/2011: Justice Society #51 -- 28,256 (- 12.4%)
06/2011: Justice Society #52 -- 27,195 (- 3.8%)
07/2011: Justice Society #53 -- 26,516 (- 2.5%)
08/2011: Justice Society #54 -- 25,584 (- 3.5%)

What I find amazing about these numbers are that they represent Marc Guggenheim's run, which gave us (among other things) Tin-Can-Alan.



They're also from the pre-New 52 period. And, despite all the criticism of how bad the JSA was during this time . . . those numbers were no lower than 25,000 copies. Issue #54 was ranked the 85th best-selling title on Diamond Distributors' Top 300 list for that month. So there was still a strong demand for the Justice Society of America when DC made the switch to the New 52. It's just DC didn't want to go with them. (Which isn't anything new . . . DC tried to kill off the JSA numerous times in the past, but there was enough demand from either readers, retailors, and/or creators that they were eventually brought back, until DC found a way to bring back something that was sorta-but-not-really the "JSA" under the New 52.)

I think DC should just drop all pretense of this being connected to the JSA. I'm actually kind of enjoying this, though it would probably read a lot better in a trade. And it needs to distance itself further from World's End and Convergence.

I think DC did drop all pretense of that a long time ago . . . back when they had issue #1 of Earth 2 and killed off the "Golden Age trinity" in that first issue.

It seems it's more some certain comic book fans that keep referring to these characters as the "Justice Society" . . . probably the same type of fans who were convinced that "Earth-2" and "Earth-Two" were two separate Earths, even though DC used both terms interchangeably back before CoIE (sometimes even within the same story).