DC Teases Flashpoint

[Admiral_Young]

Looks like there are action figures on the way!!

http://www.actionfigureblues.com/2011/02/dc-direct-lives-on-flashpoint-figures.html

 

[Admiral_Young]

Geoff Johns' first real in-depth interview on Flashpoint.

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/geoff-johns-talks-flashpoint-110401.html

 

[Admiral_Young]

We can use this to discuss "Flashpoint". Not gonna bother making a thread no one is barely going to post in. So yeah, enjoyed the first issue, liked the reveal at the end of the book. Very much touches on the tie-in books, including the two major ones "Emperor Aquaman" and "Wonder Woman". The Batman tie-in is suddenly interesting now given who is under the cowl.

 

[Misfit Toy]

^I was surprised by that revelation too. I also want to know more about the Marvel "family".

 

[DarKush]

I checked out the first issue and I liked it. I thought the parallel universe/alternate universe idea has been one done to death, but once again Johns's writing sold it for me, as does seeing the alternate takes on some of the characters. I'm not well versed on the DC universe so a lot of the cameos didn't do much for me. But I liked the usage of Cyborg and Batman (that twist was pretty cool). Looking forward to checking out Emperor Aquaman. I doubt I'll follow this series all the way through, but I thought the same thing about the War of the Green Lanterns and I've collected every issue thus far.

 

[Mr Light]

This is definitely the best Andy Kubert has ever looked. He's practically a Jim Lee clone now, and I mean that as a compliment!

 

[sojourner]

^that's never a complement.

 

[C_Miller]

Well, he says it's accessable... I might read it then...

 

[Admiral_Young]

I have to admit that I too actually enjoyed the Kubert art. Arthur's redesign is just fierce!

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Okay, random thought time.

I was reading Batman Inc #6 this morning, and again the idea of why Bruce would recruit an army of Batmen was raised. Dick asks him if it's in any way related to something Bruce saw -- or thinks he saw -- during his travels through time in Return of Bruce Wayne, which has been mentioned several times now.

It occurred to me.

One of the defining traits of Morrison's Batman is that he makes plans for everything. Might it not be possible that Bruce is aware of the changes that Flashpoint will make to the DCU, and could Batman Inc be his way of dealing with/preparing for the fallout? There's some thought that Flashpoint will lead to a line-wide reboot in September, though to be honest I don't see DC monkeying with Morrison's long-term plans for the Bat-verse (the conclusion of which is still at least eighteen months away).

 

[JoeZhang]

Might it not be possible that Bruce is aware of the changes that Flashpoint will make to the DCU,

No - because Morrison doesn't give a shit what other writers are doing - see "Death of the New gods" etc - you can make that guess but everything we know about morrison says he doesn't give a chuff what's going on in Flashpoint and it will not influence his writing in the slighest.

There's some thought that Flashpoint will lead to a line-wide reboot in September

Renumbering I can see, reboot? I don't think so.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I don't think what Bruce saw and Flashpoint are related at all. I think Bruce saw a glimpse of the future Damian becomes Batman in. I believe Leviathan is Ra's al Ghul. Or at least this is what Morrison wants us to think

 

[God Magnus]

Read the first issue and really enjoyed it. However, I was a big fan of the "Elseworlds" concept so this is right up my alley. The Batman thing was cool and I dug Cyborg's role as well. I'm looking forward to the rest of this series.

 

[Mr Light]

I believe they implied in an earlier iss of Bat Inc that Bruce knew going public like this would unite his enemies against him so he was building an army against that future battle.

 

[shivkala]

I think I'm in the minority, because I didn't dig Flashpoint that much. I understand that they had to set up the world, but for me, the rooftop scene was a big example of why they say, "Show, don't tell." They told us a lot about the world, but we saw very little of it. I would have rather had a few panels (at least) of each of these characters doing something and then the rooftop scene in issue #2. I thought it would have been more effective if I knew (in the "Flashpoint" universe sense) these characters before I saw them struggle with this decision. It also would have been more effective, for me, if I saw the devastation in Europe.

It just seems that these alternate universes are similar in that we are shown drearier America and told that Europe is totally screwed. If memory serves, "Age of Apocolypse" did this, as well as the arc in Booster Gold where Booster saves Ted from dying.

For once, I'd like to see an alternate universe where things are better, not worse. I understand why they usually go with a dystopian reality, but it's a bit played out for me.

As for the line-wide reboot, I won't discount it, but we've heard rumblings of DC doing this time and again. Infinite Crisis was supposed to reboot everything and renumber everything, but it didn't (for the most part, Justice League of America and Flash did get new titles and new #1's).

While I can see them incorporating some of the Flashpoint Universe into the regular DCU, I don't see them rebooting everything. Grant Morrison seems to have plans for Batman beyond August and while Green Lantern may be in "epilogue" mode, I read its solicits as new directions for the characters stemming from "War of the Green Lanterns," not "wrapping everything up to restart everything." Plus the ends of Brightest Day and Justice League Generation Lost set-up too much for DC to ignore it in order to reboot everything line-wide.

Finally, I really hope they don't restart every series at #1. It would be a shame after celebrating Action Comics #900 to restart it as Action Comics #1

 

[Admiral_Young]

Grant Morrison has plans for Batman until he no longer wants to write the character, essentially DC told him do whatever you want. He said he has maybe two more years of Batman stories left...and at comic con last year he stated he hadn't told his "definitive" Batman story yet

 

[Hound of UIster]

Might it not be possible that Bruce is aware of the changes that Flashpoint will make to the DCU,

No - because Morrison doesn't give a shit what other writers are doing -

He knew what was happening in GL.

Hal Jordan staking Mandrakk in FC was a call out to the GLs then having the authority to execute their enemies in SCW.

As were the FC scenes with Checkmate that were using characters established in the Greg Rucka series.


The appearance of Booster Gold and Rick Hunter in Return of Bruce Wayne was to tie into Vanishing Point, which in turn lead into Flashpoint.

There is also Greg Rucka's Batwoman appearing in Morrison's Batman work. The Nightrunner, the muslim Batman, also appears in Batman Inc.

 

[sojourner]

I believe they implied in an earlier iss of Bat Inc that Bruce knew going public like this would unite his enemies against him so he was building an army against that future battle.

Circular argument. If this were the case then Bruce simply wouldn't go public.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Bruce didn't go public. He went public by increasing Batman's profile...and as of issue six he's also dealt with people deciphering his identity by playing around message boards and introducing a whole bunch of disinformation online

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Bruce didn't go public. He went public by increasing Batman's profile...and as of issue six he's also dealt with people deciphering his identity by playing around message boards and introducing a whole bunch of disinformation online

That was a fun scene. Damian's reaction was priceless.