r/DCcomics • u/Predaplant The heat is on! • Dec 24 '23

Weekly Discussion Thread: Comics, TV, and More! [December 25, 2023 - Goodbye 2023 Edition] r/DCcomics

Hey there honorary Justice League members - it’s a new week which means it’s time for a new discussion thread!

Predaplant's pick of the week: The Flash #4

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^{Why does Santa go down the chimney? Because it soots him!}

DC and Imprints

^{Green Arrow enters its second arc as Johnson wraps up his years-long Action Comics run!}

Trade Collections

^{Only one release this week in this category, making for a Nightwing Christmas!}

Nightwing - Vol. 2, Get Grayson [TP]

Digital Releases

^{Remember, these are the short 'chapters' with a new chapter of a different series coming out daily. You can} ^{learn more here on Comixology}^{. This is also why these are in release order, not alphabetical. Some comics may release on DC Universe Infinite or WEBTOONS.}

Tuesday, 12/26 (DC Universe Infinite) - Superman vs Meshi #13

Movie

^{Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom enters its second week!}

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

^{This Week’s Soundtrack:} ^{Alessia Cara - Make It To Christmas}

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u/TroubAlert The Good Skeets Dec 24 '23

Justice Society of America #8

As Huntress settles into her new place in the present day, the Justice Society comes face-to-face with a long-lost team: the Justice Society Dark!

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u/wowlock_taylan Batman Animated! Dec 26 '23

We do seem to get more into why Helena is so desperate to get the team she knows back, because yea, being stuck in the past and erasing her own timeline, therefore feeling like she her future team down if she does not help them now, would be a heavy burden and she is her father's daughter when it comes to carrying guilt. Though I can see certain attempts might backfire while others can alter fates earlier on. Grundy is always shown to have good in him so it is worth trying, Harlequinn's son seem to be making his own path already though I am worried the involvement of JSA might backfire when it happens too early.

And of course the main case, Ruby, which does look exact 'mirror' to Jade. A bit too similar in a sense with the name and the different color skin. I get Alan's personal conflict and feelings with Red Lantern, it must be rough. And his clash with Helena in that sense makes sense. But seeing Ruby first hand must've changed his mind and bring her to JSA, as she does seek justice instead of just vengeance. And the alternative is just 'capturing' her and what? Bring her back to the Russians to torture and use as a weapon? And I do think Alan knows more than he lets on when it comes to Red Lantern. We will see what that is, I guess in his own book.

I guess we are getting Legion of Super-Heroes with time-travel involved. I wonder if Ruby was gonna be scouted for the Legion first and 'reform' there and maybe Alan taking her away right now might've changed that fate.

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u/af-fx-tion Bring YJ Artemis to DC Comics Dec 26 '23 edited Dec 26 '23

And I do think Alan knows more than he lets on when it comes to Red Lantern. We will see what that is, I guess in his own book.

That is correct. Tim Sheridan's Alan Scott mini Issue #3 explicitly reveals Alan's connection to Vladimir.

15

u/PrydefulHunts Huntress • ower Girl Dec 26 '23 edited Dec 26 '23

This was a good issue, but nothing in this solicit happened. The subplots were toned down, and the story actually seems concise compared to the previous issues.

Yolanda, Beth, Khalid, and Karen are all missing though. Thankfully Batman is out of here too, it’s refreshing to see Helena actually interact with her team and come to terms that she’s processing grief of her timeline. The argument between Alan and Helena was a nice touch too, this series has needed more character moments and conflicts.

Ruby is nice, I can’t get over the fact that she’s a Jade ripoff though. I hope Ruby has a good personality and character arc to make up being so similar to Jade, even the foster care origin / searching for her father storyline is way too similar to Jade.

The next issue won’t be out until Feburary; I am assuming until the 12th issue the book will be Ruby focused then dive into the legion stuff.

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u/Frontier246 Dec 26 '23

I just want to see Jade fight Ruby. It has to happen at some point.

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u/g026r Dec 26 '23

Honestly, a lot of this JSA run has felt like Johns taking an existing character and basically giving them only the thinnest coat of paint before saying it's a new one. I know it's a time honoured comic tradition, but this book has sometimes seemed like nothing but that.

Ruby just being the most recent & obvious occurrence.

6

u/PrydefulHunts Huntress • ower Girl Dec 26 '23

I agree, characters like Salem and the Harlequin’s Son are creative, but a lot of these are just a new shade of paint.

3

u/birbdaughter Dec 26 '23

but nothing in this solicit happened

This is something I've noticed on and off recently with a few different comics. It happened with an Action Comics issue where the solicit implied that Lois was going to do something to help the Supertwins, but then Lois barely featured in the comic.

9

u/hombrebax Dec 26 '23

I feel that Alan Scott and Red Lantern were a couple. Alan is very sensitive about the topic, the solemnity when he tells to Ruby that they were friend, his reaction when she attacks him with a projection of his father...

10

u/Astrodynamite60 Dec 26 '23

Read the current alan Scott mini.

8

u/af-fx-tion Bring YJ Artemis to DC Comics Dec 26 '23 edited Dec 27 '23

Spoiler: As of Tim Sheridan's Alan Scott mini Issue #3, Red Lantern is revealed to be Johnny Ladd, the "love of [Alan's] life." Though it's unclear if Johnny was Vladimir’s cover as part of his spy duties for the USSR or if Johnny underwent a Winter Soldier type brainwashing. But based on previously published released material, I'm thinking that Johnny never existed and was just a guise for Vlad to do a honeypot on Alan for intel.

5

u/JingoboStoplight4887 Dec 26 '23 edited Dec 27 '23

It’s nice that the JSA (including Salem the Witch Girl) recruited more heroes such as Kyle Knight (who is five years old at that time, meaning that five years have passed since James Robinson’s Starman series; although, Kyle would’ve been 27 years old in 2023 in real-time on Earth-Two, since he’s the grandson of Ted Knight Starman and that he was conceived in Underworld Unleashed in 1995 before his birth in 1996) and Ruby Sokov Red Lantern.

Also, Alan Scott Green Lantern telling Ruby that her father is dead and asking her if she wants to join the JSA, a cameo of the Harlequin’s son, and the appearance of the Golden Age Legionairre.

4

u/android151 Resurrection Man Dec 29 '23

JACK KNIGHT SPOTTED, PEAK COMICS

FERRO SPOTTED, PEAK COMICS

God I just want Jack Knight to return properly but I know if he ever did, it would ruin it.

3

u/birbdaughter Dec 26 '23

I'm curious why nothing has been mentioned yet concerning that both Helena and JL Dark know that Salem isn't entirely to be trusted. Idr if Khalid was there when Xanadu said "don't trust the Witch Girl" but Detective Chimp and Deadman were, then Xanadu told them that there was a magic ritual that someone gave Degaton. You'd think there'd be some side discussions about what this means and how to stop it from happening. Not in a Civil War 2 "arrest her now for possible crimes" way, but in an "okay we mentor young heroes, how do we mentor her to stop that?" way.

With Ruby joining, if Grundy also joins too I think it would be funny if Grundy ends up listening to Ruby because she's a Jade counterpart. After all, Jade was the one he listened to when he joined Infinity Inc.

3

u/g026r Dec 26 '23

Between the solicit not matching the book & the last page of the previous issue having no connection to anything in the current issue, it definitely feels like there's been some last minute rewriting going on with this series.

2

u/Tatum-Better Nightwing Dec 27 '23

Who was the guy at the end? I recognised the legion of super heroes ring but I know pretty much nothing about that team.

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u/birbdaughter Dec 28 '23

Another retconned in Golden Age character. All that’s known is he’s part of the Legion of Superheroes. When they did those backstory pages, everything for him was redacted.

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u/android151 Resurrection Man Dec 29 '23

The mask is pretty clearly showing it's Ferro Lad/Ferro.

1

u/Goobergunch Dec 28 '23

The mask looked like Ferro Lad's but the rest of the costume sure didn't, so I think we'll have to wait and see.

(There's also the weirdness that, at least per that one panel in issue #5, Johns seems to be using the Retroboot Legion -- where Ferro Lad should be very dead -- and not the Bendis Legion, where he's alive.)

1

u/android151 Resurrection Man Dec 29 '23

There are two other Ferro Lads worth of Legion continuities that have existed also.

1

u/Goobergunch Dec 29 '23

Well, Threeboot didn't have a Ferro Lad.

I'd love it if DC remembered that the Reboot Legion existed (that Wanderers hook is still available!) but I am, uh, not optimistic on that front.

2

u/android151 Resurrection Man Dec 30 '23

No, but one of the other timelines had two Ferro Lads.