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Author Topic: Crisis on Multiple Earths Vol. 2  (Read 8549 times)
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Super Monkey
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« on: February 16, 2004, 03:31:19 AM »

Has anyone gotten this one?



the press release :

Because you demanded it, we're back with another batch of the historic meetings between the legendary Justice League of America and Justice Society of America, collected in CRISIS ON MULTIPLE EARTHS Volume 2! This trade paperback collects JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #55-56, 64-65, 72-73, and 83-84, with the first two adventures written by Gardner Fox with art by Mike Sekowsky and Sid Greene, and the final two written by Denny O'Neil with art by Dick Dillin and Joe Giella. These stories feature the Earth-2 Robin, the deaths of Larry Lance and the Spectre, and the introduction of the Silver Age Red Tornado! All this, plus an introduction by Martin Pasko and a new cover painting by Jerry Ordway!

SC, Full Color, 208 pages     Retail Price $14.95

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Spaceman Spiff
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« Reply #1 on: February 17, 2004, 04:36:12 AM »

Yes, I got my copy in early December.  As the press release says, this volume collects the JLA/JSA team-ups from 1967 through 1970.  Here's a quick run-down:

JLA #55-56 (1967) by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Sid Greene
The grown-up Robin of Earth-Two joins the JSA, and Wonder Woman of Earth-Two returns to active duty in the JSA (she made her Silver Age debut in Flash #137 in 1963, but hadn't appeared in a JLA/JSA team-up until these issues).  The cover of Crisis on Multiple Earths Volume 2 was inspired by the cover of JLA #56.  The two teams battle ordinary people who have gained super-powers after exposure to mysterious black spheres from another dimension. And the heroes battle among themselves!

JLA #64-65 (1968) by Gardner Fox, Dick Dillin, and Sid Greene
A new Red Tornado "returns" to join the JSA.  Interestingly, the JLA and JSA don't really meet in this one, but they fight the same menace.

JLA #73-74 (1969) by Denny O'Neil, Dick Dillin, and Sid Greene
Superman of Earth-Two returns!  The two Supermen square off against each other as the JLA and JSA fight each other again.  The result of the battle is a real shocker!

JLA #82-83 (1970) by Denny O'Neil, Dick Dillin, and Joe Giella
Superman of Earth-Two appears again, but only long enough to get kayoed.  Batman of Earth-Two even appears in one panel, but he doesn't do anything.  An alien real-estate developer wants to destroy Earth-One and Earth-Two in order to create a new planet.  Someone must die to set things right.  Will it be Black Canary? Red Tornado? Spectre?

Bonus features: A two-page portrait of the JSA by Murphy Anderson (from JLA #76), a one-page JLA pinup and a one-page JSA pinup by Dick Giordano (both from Ltd Collector's Edition #C-46, and a "JLA MAIL ROOM" page with excerpts from original LoCs about the stories in this volume.

If you're a fan of the Silver/Bronze Age JLA and JSA (like me), and especially if you came along too late to read these stories (again, like me), then you'll probably enjoy this book.  The story pages are reprinted well, although the cover of issue #56 came out grainy.  The two-page portrait of the JSA is downright beautiful, but it would be nicer if it had been a fold-out.  The biggest artwork gripe I had was the "JLA MAIL ROOM" page.  The banner looked like it was scanned from an old comic that had been left out in the rain.  Maybe it was.

As for the stories, the first four are classic Gardner Fox stories similar to those in the first Crisis on Multiple Earths volume.  Denny O'Neil makes a good showing in the fifth and sixth stories, but the last two are pretty weak.  The Spectre's imprisonment in #83 didn't jibe with his appearance at the JSA meeting in #82, but then again, several other JSAers disappeared between #82 and #83, as well.

I'm hoping DC will continue this series, and I'll keep buying them even though I have most of the remaining stories in the original comics.  The third volume should include the JLA/JSA meetings with the Seven Soldiers of Victory and the Freedom Fighters.  And the fourth volume should include Cary Bates and Elliot S! Maggin, the Marvel Family and Shazam's Squadron of Justice, and the Legion of Super-Heroes.  Boy, those were the good ol' days.
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« Reply #2 on: February 17, 2004, 01:53:51 PM »

I second Spiff's review...fun stuff.

This book features two stories by Gardner Fox and two by Denny O'Neil, and with all due respect to the great Mr. Fox, I enjoyed Denny's stuff a lot more.

Don't get me wrong, they're all alike in that they have the usual Silver Age blend of the cool and the ridiculous, but where Fox writes all his heroes as generic good guys, Denny begins to introduce a bit of character.  Black Canary suffers personal tragedy, Alan Scott has a crisis of resolve, Dinah and Ollie begin to display an attraction for each other, and so on.  As fans, of course we're curious to know; how, if at all, does Earth-2 differ from Earth-1? How do the older heroes feel about their younger counterparts and vice-versa?  All of this stuff would be mined pretty well in later years, but these are some of the first examples.

There are a few missteps along the way.  Superman of Earth-2 is identical to his Earth-1 counterpart, with the same "S" and no gray hair.  O'Neill's take on the multiple earths concept is at odds with what's later established.  For example:

- Denny says whatever happens on one Earth happens on the other (if so, then why did Earth-1 have to wait 20 years longer than Earth-2 before getting superheroes?)

- He says everyone on Earth-1 has a duplicate on Earth-2 (if so, that would make both Clark Kents, both Bruce Waynes, etc the same age!  And where are Earth-1's Jay Garrick, Alan Scott, Carter Hall, etc and why didn't they become heroes?)

- He says the cross-overs happen due to the "weakened barrier" between worlds once a year.  This was already wrong when he wrote it, since Barry Allen crossed over at all times of the year.

Anyway, it's a lot of fun watching the early days of the multiple Earths concept, and the art is pretty good if not fantastic.  I was never a big fan of Dick Dillin (at least not on superheroes), but he's helped greatly here by Syd Greene's inks.

And yes, some great stories remain to be told. Here's hoping we get at least a Volume 3.  Incidentaly, DC's planning to collect all of George Perez's JLA work in a TPB this year, and that should include his resolution of a JLA/JSA/New Gods cross-over and the terrific JLA/JSA/Secret Society of Super-Villains three-parter.
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« Reply #3 on: February 17, 2004, 04:48:50 PM »

I didn't read your reviews (sorry  :oops: ) but I can say that I have both books.  They both are very good but if you've never read any of these, you'll probably like volume one much more.  For some reason book two has nice ideas but they just don't materialize like you might want them too.  The problem with these is this - when dealing with a group, it's tough to give each character a personality.
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« Reply #4 on: February 17, 2004, 05:54:26 PM »

Quote
The problem with these is this - when dealing with a group, it's tough to give each character a personality.


I agree to an extent.  Certainly, the earlier stories by Garnder Fox turned entirely on the strength of their "hooks".  The idea of an Earth with no super-heroes, just super-villains was a successful hook...some of the others weren't good enough, frankly, to make a room full of 20 guys in longjohns interesting.

As I said above, O'Neill makes the first steps toward rectifying this by introducing some character quirks, by making some characters chummy and others at odds, and by making major changes to a character on Earth-2 (since they're not as "unchangeable" as their counterparts), resulting in her relocation to Earth-1.  To me, this is what worked about the best JLA/JSA cross-overs...the exploration of how the earths are similar and different, and how their residents felt upon meeting.

Otherwise, all you've got is a book where instead of 10 guys with different costumes but identical personalities, this month you've got 20 of them.

In fact, it wouldn't be too far off to say these moments are what saved the JLA/JSA tales for me, since the main plots were often too ridiculous for words.
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« Reply #5 on: February 17, 2004, 06:41:01 PM »

A good example of the personality problem is at the burial of Canary's husband - Batman is crying - now that is really ridiculous - there are tears falling thru his mask...  Then you have Superman who's holding a book - we can all guess that's it's a bible (!) and that he doing some sort of rite...  I feel that that too is also out of character.  In many ways Superman is or has been the leader, that he's been brought up by the Kents but wouldn't in pre-crisis Earth religions be a foreign concept for him?   He observes all kinds of Kryptonian birthdays...
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« Reply #6 on: February 17, 2004, 08:57:15 PM »

Well that stuff is kind of hard to explain away, I guess.  Or maybe not...

A lot of late-60s, early-70s JLA stories had the heroes acting out of character, in my opinion. In fact in these early days of forging personalities from previously wooden heroes, there were a lot of false steps and wrong turns.  Batman as portrayed in Brave and the Bold not only cried over the darnedest things, he was prone to fits of temper and fell in love with women who manipulated him, none of which fits his now-established portrayal as a coolly rational, brilliant and emotionally distant character.  In one JLA story, Aquaman went off the deep end (sorry, couldn't resist!) about pollution in the seas, but afterwards it seemed to be a non-issue with him (at least he didn't pursue it like Namor might've).  And so on.  I remember reading Bob Haney's Batman tales as a youngster and being confused on a regular basis.  In one issue, Batman would rub elbows with a character like the Phantom Stranger and dismiss magic and monsters as "supernatural bunk," when a month or two before he'd been fighting demons side-by-side with Dr Fate or talking to the ghost of Boston Brand.  So is Batman a believer or non-believer?  

I think what happened with Larry's funeral is that the artist "hammed it up" more than the script indicated.  The front notes to the book suggest that Denny wrote his stuff "tongue in cheek," and if so, that could be another explanation.  You could try and explain it all, of course...as you say, Superman is the de facto "leader" of the heroes, so it's possible they'd ask him to read a passage from the Bible.  Christianity may mean nothing to him, but if it was Larry's faith, then Supes would honor that, just as a soldier would honor his fallen buddy on the battlefield with a "service" that reflected the dead man's beliefs.  Of course on a battlefield there's no ministers handy sometimes, whereas there really doesn't seem to have been such a pressing need to put Larry in the ground within hours of his passing!  :shock:

I really think Superman's exaggerated pose in that scene, plus all the tears, is just a bit of over-the-top theatrics.
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« Reply #7 on: February 18, 2004, 12:09:14 AM »

Wasn't there a story in the 1st book where characters use powers they never had before or since Wink

As you know, I am very slow to get books, so I haven't gotten these two as of yet, but I will, they sound like a lot of fun.
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