TF Views

I think it's a mistake to assume that the description of all the different Earths are contemporary with each other. Since we know Earth 2 and Earth 3 are dying and dead respectively, the description is from the recent past, not the present relative to Earth 0. The descriptions take Earth 0's super-heroic era as a template, and describes the nearest equivalent of that on the other Earths, whether or not those characters are still prominent or not.

Earth-7 gets a description, but it's dead and gone by this point in the series, corrupted by the Gentry, and it's implied that Earth-20 might be as well ("that book was cancelled" says Captain Marvel). Earth 1 doesn't have Wonder Woman yet since it hasn't been published. We're just looking at various snapshots in time for each Earth, not one slice of time that's the same all across the Multiverse.

If that makes sense.

andersonh1 wrote:I think it's a mistake to assume that the description of all the different Earths are contemporary with each other. Since we know Earth 2 and Earth 3 are dying and dead respectively, the description is from the recent past, not the present relative to Earth 0. The descriptions take Earth 0's super-heroic era as a template, and describes the nearest equivalent of that on the other Earths, whether or not those characters are still prominent or not.

Earth-7 gets a description, but it's dead and gone by this point in the series, corrupted by the Gentry, and it's implied that Earth-20 might be as well ("that book was cancelled" says Captain Marvel). Earth 1 doesn't have Wonder Woman yet since it hasn't been published. We're just looking at various snapshots in time for each Earth, not one slice of time that's the same all across the Multiverse.

If that makes sense.

If that were the case, then why would they describe any of the Earths as already dead and gone? And why bother to describe those universes at a point of history if they aren't at the same relative point in time in relation to one another? I mean, I get what you're saying but I don't think it'd make sense to place each universe in it's own time frame. It wouldn't be consistent.

Comic books are consistenlty inconsistent.

Sparky Prime wrote:If that were the case, then why would they describe any of the Earths as already dead and gone? And why bother to describe those universes at a point of history if they aren't at the same relative point in time in relation to one another? I mean, I get what you're saying but I don't think it'd make sense to place each universe in it's own time frame. It wouldn't be consistent.

Looking through my copy now to see if any are listed as dead already...

Earth 15 - that entire universe was destroyed by Superboy Prime...

...and that's it. No other Earths are described as dead and gone already. With the vast majority, a version of their "Justice League" is presented as representative of their Earth (since this is a superhero comic after all). Earth 7 was destroyed in Multiversity #1, but it's presented here in the Guidebook with all of its heroes alive and well. Which makes sense in story terms now that I think about it, because Chibi Batman is reading the guide, which means it must have been written in the relative past from his point of view, before the Gentry attacked and began corrupting the Multiverse. The contents would have reflected the Multiverse from that time.

It's a history book, essentially. If I read a book written in 1990, it wouldn't reflect the present day. It would reflect the time it was written. The guide to the 52 worlds reflects the time it was written.

Green Lantern #38
The Templar Guardians finally take their role as the leaders of the Green Lantern Corps back from Hal. And while they think he had a lot of success in the role, they also can't ignore the mistakes he'd made. So they give him a break and send him home while they think about what his actions will mean for the future. And so the rest of the issue is pretty much Hal hanging out with Guy, and Barry and then has a talk with Carol, giving them the chance to reconcile their break up. It's good to see an issue with Hal taking a break and back on Earth, seeing as he's pretty much been GL full time since... I can't even remember its been so long.

Green Lantern New Guardians #38
One of the titans released from the Source Wall is attacking a planet (and is about to kill the girl Kyle chooses to give the White Lantern ring to in the Future's End issue), when it is suddenly stopped by a black substance... Meanwhile on Zamaron, Kyle and Carol talk about their relationship. As a Star Sapphire, Carol needs to feel love and tells Kyle she thinks she may have just forced herself to love him in order to remain a Star Sapphire. Kyle admits he's not sure about his own feelings either having had his feelings for Alex come up all over again. Suddenly the source wall titan crashes onto Zamaron with a White Lantern symbol burned onto it's face. Tracking it back to the planet it came from, they are attacked by the girl. Carol tries to explain they aren't who she seems to think they are, but she recognizes the symbol Kyle wears, which makes Kyle realize Oblivion is there, and is promptly attacked by him.
With only two more issues left, I'm really curious to see how things will end. It's interesting to see the alien girl from the Future's End issue in this issue. Maybe suggesting Kyle will pass on the ring like he did in that issue as well? Little surprised to see Oblivion return as well. Although the annual really didn't explain what happened when Kyle allowed him to merge with him the last time we saw him. Kyle and Carol's relationship is kinda left in the air here as well as they both acknowledge they have feelings for one another, but aren't really sure they're in love with one another.

Sinestro #9
With the Paling picking up the pace of spreading their influence, a new group decides they must make themselves stronger...
Elsewhere, Sinestro and his elite are looking for more Korugarian survivors having gotten a distress call. Sinestro however, has become preoccupied with the fate of Bekka who has yet to decide to accept the ring he offered her or not. While lost in thought, he comes across the Korugarians, who have been killed by Black Mercies. Realizing this means Mongul, he orders the others to leave and Lyssa to come with him as they attack him head on. During the fight however, Sinestro is attacked by the Apex League. I'm guessing this is their first appearance ever, because they don't show up on a google search other than for this issue. I'm glad they haven't forgotten about the ring Sinestro offered Bekka during the Godshead event. Looks like that may factor into a future storyline. I think this may also be Mongul's first appearance in the New 52 outside the Villains Month tie-in issue. Other than his arm being reattached, sounds like his history with the Sinestro Corps hasn't changed, and so he's just out looking for revenge for Sinestro beating him up the last time they met.

Shockwave wrote:Comic books are consistenlty inconsistent.

I'd have to say that's entirely subjective, often times they are, but not consistently. A good writer can figure out how to make it all work. Or at least BS it enough to explain away any inconsistencies.

andersonh1 wrote:Looking through my copy now to see if any are listed as dead already...

Earth 15 - that entire universe was destroyed by Superboy Prime...

...and that's it. No other Earths are described as dead and gone already. With the vast majority, a version of their "Justice League" is presented as representative of their Earth (since this is a superhero comic after all). Earth 7 was destroyed in Multiversity #1, but it's presented here in the Guidebook with all of its heroes alive and well. Which makes sense in story terms, because Kamandi is reading the guide, which means it must have been written in the relative past, before the Gentry attacked and began corrupting the Multiverse.

The point still stands. If they were just doing a snapshot of the Earth's with the equivalent Justice Leagues, why describe any of them as destroyed? It doesn't add up that they're just describing these universes in their own separate points of time. Like I said before, it sounds to me like they were written from the perspective of the early New 52, and that is kept consistent across the multiverse.

It's a history book, essentially. If I read a book written in 1990, it wouldn't reflect the present day. It would reflect the time it was written. The guide to the 52 worlds reflects the time it was written.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I'm saying... You made it sound like in your previous post that each universe was written from its own separate point in time.

Sparky Prime wrote:Yeah, that's pretty much what I'm saying... You made it sound like in your previous post that each universe was written from its own separate point in time.

I did, but that's what I get for speculating without the book in front of me to double check. There's just too much in this issue for me to remember it off the top of my head, so I got it wrong. I'm not sure it's "early" New 52 (as in the five years ago we saw for the first Justice League arc), but it's certainly New 52 sometime before Forever Evil since the Crime Syndicate is intact on their own Earth.

But I still wonder just when we could have seen the Crime Syndicate on Earth 3, and seen the Earth 2 characters with Val-Zod/Superman with them. I thought he didn't take up the Superman costume until Forever Evil had just about run its course, but I could be wrong.

It's good to see an issue with Hal taking a break and back on Earth, seeing as he's pretty much been GL full time since... I can't even remember its been so long.

Since issue 21, so almost a year and a half, real-time. He had a brief visit to Earth to see his brother's family since then, but that was only for a couple of pages.

I often analogize comic book consistency is like listening to your drunk friends try to recall a story about another time you were all drunk. Some people remember stuff one way, one person remembers different people being there, some people will remember the same people but in different places or outfits...

Shockwave wrote:I often analogize comic book consistency is like listening to your drunk friends try to recall a story about another time you were all drunk. Some people remember stuff one way, one person remembers different people being there, some people will remember the same people but in different places or outfits...

Hence the value of examining the issue in question when discussing it!

andersonh1 wrote:Since issue 21, so almost a year and a half, real-time. He had a brief visit to Earth to see his brother's family since then, but that was only for a couple of pages.

Yeah, but I'm not counting that since that really wasn't downtime for Hal. He was just letting his brother know what was going on to explain why he hadn't and wouldn't be around so much. Really, the last time I think Hal had some real down time was the start of the New 52, for the short time he didn't have a ring.

Shockwave wrote:I often analogize comic book consistency is like listening to your drunk friends try to recall a story about another time you were all drunk. Some people remember stuff one way, one person remembers different people being there, some people will remember the same people but in different places or outfits...

Not sure I really agree with that analogy... I mean it's not that people simply aren't remembering the details right or the same way, when it can actually be the events and details themselves that change in a comic that they generally give an explanation for.

Sparky Prime wrote:Yeah, but I'm not counting that since that really wasn't downtime for Hal. He was just letting his brother know what was going on to explain why he hadn't and wouldn't be around so much. Really, the last time I think Hal had some real down time was the start of the New 52, for the short time he didn't have a ring.

If he didn't get any downtime between the end of the First Lantern storyline and heading to Oa where he was given leadership of the Corps, then I think you're right. The poor guy needed that break!