Revisiting the Wizard Quiz...
You know, I was reading the solicits for April, and thinking about Infinite Crisis 4, and suddenly remembered that Wizard "quiz" a couple of months back. Specifically that one question:
One of these characters will be the only one around after "Infinite Crisis": The Flash/Wally West, Superboy/Conner Kent, Green Lantern/Guy Gardner, Nightwing/Dick Grayson
See, like almost everyone else, I figured that meant only one of these guys will be active OYL. Which worried me, because I really don't want to lose Guy or Conner.
But then, at Facedown in the Gutters, Jon had a different interpretation (scroll down), which I thought was neat, even if I didn't think it was plausible.
See, Jon read the "will be the only one around" as referring to the only one of its *type* around. Which made sense for the Flashes and Green Lanterns; there were so many after all. But not so much for Nightwing or Superboy. There was only one of each, I figured... So it didn't work for me.
But you know...:
"The streets of New York have never seen anything like the war raging between twin super-powered crime lords and...twin Nightwings?" (April's Nightwing Solicit...)
Hey there...
And then with Crisis...we're only four books in, in a seven book series. You can't tell me the Flashes are gone for good, not yet anyway. Just like the Earth-2 stuff...hell, Parallax *did* manage to wipe out the universe for a little bit in Zero Hour before they fixed everything again...
And there are certainly two Superboys to play with...and really, given the way things have turned out, it's really not likely that Superboy Prime (as sympathetic as he ended up) will be able to stay in the DCU.
But even if I'm wrong, and Clark stays and Jay's the last Flash, or whatever...it's pretty nifty isn't it? A nice way to show how by giving us a hint, they might have deliberately led us down the wrong speculative path. Heh, that's really really clever. I look forward to seeing if that's the case.
(And really, it means I lose fewer of my favorite characters that way, :-) Denial is fun.)
One of these characters will be the only one around after "Infinite Crisis": The Flash/Wally West, Superboy/Conner Kent, Green Lantern/Guy Gardner, Nightwing/Dick Grayson
See, like almost everyone else, I figured that meant only one of these guys will be active OYL. Which worried me, because I really don't want to lose Guy or Conner.
But then, at Facedown in the Gutters, Jon had a different interpretation (scroll down), which I thought was neat, even if I didn't think it was plausible.
See, Jon read the "will be the only one around" as referring to the only one of its *type* around. Which made sense for the Flashes and Green Lanterns; there were so many after all. But not so much for Nightwing or Superboy. There was only one of each, I figured... So it didn't work for me.
But you know...:
"The streets of New York have never seen anything like the war raging between twin super-powered crime lords and...twin Nightwings?" (April's Nightwing Solicit...)
Hey there...
And then with Crisis...we're only four books in, in a seven book series. You can't tell me the Flashes are gone for good, not yet anyway. Just like the Earth-2 stuff...hell, Parallax *did* manage to wipe out the universe for a little bit in Zero Hour before they fixed everything again...
And there are certainly two Superboys to play with...and really, given the way things have turned out, it's really not likely that Superboy Prime (as sympathetic as he ended up) will be able to stay in the DCU.
But even if I'm wrong, and Clark stays and Jay's the last Flash, or whatever...it's pretty nifty isn't it? A nice way to show how by giving us a hint, they might have deliberately led us down the wrong speculative path. Heh, that's really really clever. I look forward to seeing if that's the case.
(And really, it means I lose fewer of my favorite characters that way, :-) Denial is fun.)
posted by kalinara @ 12:50 AM
4 Comments:
At January 21, 2006 1:48 AM,
Jon said…
Hey, yeah! I'm not a poor reader! I'm just freaking prophetic!,
At January 21, 2006 11:23 AM,
Anonymous said…
Well, that's just irritating. I hadn't seen that before.
Actually, I'm expecting that Dick will be out as Nightwing, but will be running around as Batman, since I think Bruce is going to be busy trying to actually having a life after the events of IC.
Of course Guy isn't going to be a Green Lantern after IC, but I certainly hope that they don't kill him off either. That would be a pointless waste.
I hope they just take Wally's powers away from him and he can have a "happily ever after" moment. As Identity Crisis shows us, comics characters NEVER get a "happily ever after". Even when you think they do, someone digs up their storylines after 20 years and brings them back.
But if they get rid of Conner, I'll be peeved. I LIKE the idea of a Superboy, even (or especially) if its NOT "the adventures of Superman as a Boy". His origin is actually fairly clean and tied into the Superman mythos fairly well.
At January 21, 2006 11:54 AM,
kalinara said…
jon: Yep! It really does work out, if you think about it.
jer: I have to disagree. :-) I think it's pretty likely Guy's staying a Green Lantern (Green Lantern Corps might not be solicited on the website, but it's coming out, and Guy's intended to be a major player there according to pretty much all the interviews. They might be lying, but why?) The nice thing about GLs is that the mythos really can support a lot of Lanterns: Hal, John, Kyle, Guy, they all can serve their own unique role in the franchise. Which is awesome, IMO.
And maybe Dick will be Batman, maybe not, so far, it looks like Bruce is sticking with the cowl, at least for a while. That's my thought anyway, be interesting to see if I'm wrong.
But I definitely agree with you about Conner. Divorcing the Superboy concept from Clark as a Boy is a good thing. The particular parentage issues are a good thing and can be used to explore different dynamics among the characters.
I really do think it is a very clever bit of misdirection myself. :-) Which makes me happy really because I do like all the characters and would rather not lose that many of them. (I'm all for quiet retirement for Wally though, he seems like he could use a nice normal life). And I like revisiting characters after 20 years, but I'm weird that way. :-)
At January 21, 2006 7:16 PM,
Ragnell said…
Hmm... I think Jon and Kali are interpreting it right. Let's go by the solicits to figure out who'll be around one year later.
Wally's series has been cancelled. We will not see him again until at least July. In fact, the only Flash we may be seeing for a while is Jay Garrick, on the cover of JSA.
Dick Grayson is ominously absent from the previews, although we have a surplus of Nightwings.
Guy Gardner, as a Green Lantern, is in the Blue Beetle #1 preview.
Connor Kent, as Superboy, appears in the Teen Titans annual, set after Infinite Crisis.
So, that leaves us with both Guy and Connor afterwards.
Two confirmed right answers doesn't work in an only one type question, so Jon is a the Prophet.
Which means that Connor's the answer if you go over the solicits again.
If we're down to one Flash, as we've seen, it's Jay Garrick. So Wally's out.
There are loads of Green Lanterns, and we know for a fact from the solicits that Hal and Kyle will still be around. So Guy's out.
The solicits suggest twin Nightwings, meaning if Dick's Nightwing, he's not the only one and thus not the answer.
But everything I've seen heavily implies that adult Clark has given up active duty (note the prominence of the Clark Kent identity on the covers). Add to that the solicit for Supergirl #7, which tells us both Supergirl and Power Girl will be in the Bottle City of Kandor. Earth-Prime Clark is not going to stay Superboy after what we've seen. If he sticks around, it won't be as Superman.
Which tells us that Connor Kent is not only the only Superboy, but the only remaining Super-Family member one year later.
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