#EarthMe
Grant Morrison Writer
Ben Oliver Art
Ben Oliver w/Dan Brown Colorists
Clem Robins Letterer
Ben Oliver Cover
Dale Eaglesham w/Gabe Eltaeb, Eduardo Risso w/Nathan Fairbairn after Mike Sekowsky, Murphy Anderson & Jack Adler, Grant Morrison – Variant Covers
Rickey Purdin Editor
Eddie Berganza Group Editor
Batman created by Bob Kane
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
Superboy created by Jerry Siegel
By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family
None of the variant covers are included in the digital version of this comic, and none of them feature any version of Bart Allen, so I'm not going to worry about them. The main cover is like one of those dumb gossip magazines found in the grocery store checkout line. But it's all about superheroes, so it's pretty fun. It presents a world where the Young Justice heroes of the '90s have grown up into rich, spoiled and bored celebrities, mainly using their powers to hold extravagant parties. The main characters here are Batman's son, Damian, Superman's son, Chris, and Lex Luthor's daughter, Alexis.
The Multiversity was a fascinating, dense and wild series, where Grant Morrison took us to a different Earth each issue, exploring different aspects of the nature of superheroes and the power of stories themselves. We're only going to take a very quick peek at this issue, though, which takes place on Earth 16. The original Superman and Batman are dead, but they left behind an army of powerful robots that protect the Earth and stop all crime. So this world's second and third generations of heroes have way too much time on their hands. This has led to an incredibly apathetic and vapid world, where nobody really cares about anything, even an interdimensional invasion that is literally tearing their planet apart right in front of them.
Wally West is a member of the Justice League, but all they really do is reenact classic battles from the past. It's like LARP on steroids. Max Mercury makes an appearance at Superboy's art gallery. Poor Superboy is slowly devolving into a Bizarro, but nobody really cares. All anybody cares about is Sister Miracle's massive party in Malibu, California, which is attended by none other than our beloved Impulse.
We can also see a Lil' Lobo (or Slobo) on this page and, shockingly, an Inertia on the next page. But he's also just jumping into the pool like Impulse, ignoring the neighbors' complaints and the reports of an alternate reality invading their world. Arrowette is thrilled at the prospect of being able to fight something for once, but we don't see if she actually gets that chance. Alexis Luthor was jaded that she wasn't invited to the party, so she took control of Superman's unstoppable army of robots and began wreaking havoc.
This is truly a fantastic series that demands to be read, re-read and re-read again. It's full of so many details, Easter eggs and high concepts that could make you go insane if you think about them too much. And every now and then, I absolutely love a story like that. The immediate takeaway from this story is the danger of apathy. For me, though, I'm mostly thrilled to see that Ben Oliver remembered Impulse among all those other late-90s legacy characters. Impulse looks utterly bizarre here, wearing a suit that's closer to pajamas than something to actually fight crime in. But why would he need to wear anything durable? There's no crime to fight — only fancy parties to attend.
I collected this whole series as it came out, so I have the physical copy of this issue. Here are the ads:
He brings evildoers to the point of justice. Arrow Season Two on Blu-Ray.
Discover what makes a hero. The Flash. Tuesdays on The CW. I'll admit I was quite excited for this show, but could only stay with it for three seasons.
American Dad! On TBS.
Saving a city takes a toll. Arrow. Wednesdays on The CW.
All hail the
Channel 52 has completely ditched the goofy newscast format and instead features art from Batman #35 and a letter from Batman Group Editor Mark Doyle. I don't know why they're still calling it Channel 52 at this point.
DC All Access talks about the new Constantine series. It's kind of odd that DC has three pages of two separate "features" that serve the exact same purpose. Frankly, I'd prefer if they combined the two and brought back letters to the editor. But that's not happening.
SuperHeroStuff.com. Where heroes shop.
Everyone fights their demons. His fight back. Constantine on NBC.
Believe it or not, but that is our last story of 2014. Teen Titans #30 came out in April, this comic came out in October, and nothing else of importance happened in between that time. There were a few flashbacks of Bar Torr, but not any actual appearances worthy of covering. And there won't be any until May of 2015. So next time, we'll do our Year in Review, even though there isn't much to review.
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