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DC sent out the above image (click for a larger view) this afternoon as a teaser with the headline:

“Let the battle cry be heard in the land, a shout of great destruction”

As non-DCU scholars we are baffled by this. Are we supposed to be baffled? What damn dirty apes blew up the Statue of Liberty? Why is Superman sad? Why does Black Canary have a package?

Help us understand.

UPDATE: Okay, since the quote is from the book of Jeremiah, maybe the Elseworlds are teaming up with J. Michael Straczynski? Or maybe the book wil be drawn by Euro ‘tooner Hermann Huppen?

49 COMMENTS

  1. “Why does Black Canary have a package?”

    Mister Miracle is wondering THE EXACT SAME THING.

    Mary Marvel’s just glad she’s not still in her coma. That Maybelline makeover just wasn’t working.

    “Save me, Jeffy-Wan! You’re my only etcetera!”

    Also: X-Ray Vision.

    It’s probably the next Crisis, come early. Either that, or more WWthree teasing.

    //Oo/\

  2. Mary Marvel looks so sad I mistook her from the mascara-running weepy girl from THE BOYS.

    With this, and Marvel’s latest “SPIKES ON THE INSIDE” travesty, it looks like the self-parody isn’t going to stop anytime soon at the Big Two…

  3. “why is Batman wearing pants?”

    Because now that he’s got a sword nobody would dare say anything about it.

    Is it just me or is Green Lantern and Wonder Girl (???) floating in the air, but drawn as if their standing on something?

    Also Superman is only pretending to be sad so he can get a face full. Oldest trick in the book.

  4. Is it just me or is Green Lantern and Wonder Girl (???) floating in the air, but drawn as if their standing on something?

    I believe this picture was created from 1980s-era “Color-Forms”.

  5. Did no-one notice that’s Nightwing’s Kingdom Come simulacrum?
    Was he called Red Robin? If so, that’s a silly name.

    I think a couple of the characters are trying to represent possible Elseworlds- like the Pirate Batman thing.

    Could this be teasing about the Kingdom Come Starman who just showed up in JSA? (Along with the Kingdom Come Superman who appeared in one panel at the end)

    It’s a neat image though, thanks for posting it.

  6. The Many Deaths of Ted Kord. Back for one last BWAHAHAHA!

    (do they have some legal issues with the old Charlton characters? Not being snarky here, but it sure seems a lot of them are dying off)

  7. It must be a WWII thing, all the bodies on the ground are people that died before, and after Infinite Crisis.

    That is Red Robin (Dick Grayson) from Kingdom Come, and I have no idea where that Batman outfit came from.

    If you look in the background (behind Batman), part of the Ol’Liberty is still there, so it was only partly destroyed.

  8. The half-buried corpses around the bottom remind me a lot of a Sopranos teaser image from a few seasons back (except that the living were in a boat, not on the Statue of Liberty). Maybe Superman’s crying because he found out Hal Jordan was wearing a wire and had to whack him.

  9. Why is Superman holding his leg in that awkward pose?

    Batman isn’t wearing pants, he’s wearing his Batthrobe.

  10. Isn’t there some sort of minimum time frame you have to wait before consecutive deaths of Ted Kord?

    Wolverine killed Northstar three times in as many weeks, albeit in three different realities.

    Looks to me like Flash just heard the back of his tights splitting . . .

    Which are, it should be noted, Barry Allen’s tights.

    Looks like Kyle’s about to do the ol’ yawn and put your arm around Donna’s shoulder. And with Jade dead on the ground, that’s a whole level of skeevy.

    What, no dead Booster? Booooo… ster.

  11. Oh, good. I was wondering when DC would finally start getting dark and killing off characters. The last couple of years have just been so damn sunny. “Tegrof….”

    And why is Batman wearing pants? Well, cause he doesn’t want to distract from Dinah’s package, of course!

  12. everyone looks disconcerting becuase they saw a naked joe quesada thrown into the statue of liberty buy dan didio

  13. Based on their track record, I’m guessing that whatever the hell this is, it involves chemo* raping the statue of liberty.

    * Or that brain guy from the fatal five. Or a giant monkey. Regardless, I’m sure someone or something is raped. Christ, DC comics are just fucking awful since that Dr. Phil look-a-like took over……..

  14. “With this, and Marvel’s latest “SPIKES ON THE INSIDE” travesty, it looks like the self-parody isn’t going to stop anytime soon at the Big Two…”

    Amen, brother. Amen.

  15. Hell, I’d settle for someone helping me understand the _appeal_ of the DCU. ‘Cause by this point I sure don’t get it.

  16. Maybe this is a commentary on the overall darkness. After all, the death of Max Lord and Ted Kord are ancient history by now. 52 is dark but OYL is rather less so and more of a 70’s throwback for the most part [Batman and Superman in particular. Wonder Woman is just wierd now, but not dark, no.] The Elseworlds are probably going to mix with the normal DCU in WWIII. And this is a reference to that. I’ve never read Kingdom Come, so which one’s Red Robin?

  17. It makes me sad when good artists make bad drawings. Add to the aforementioned awkwardnesses: Exactly how is Green Arrow standing on the Statue’s crown like that?

  18. Anyone notice the cut and paste look of this?

    Or the poorly drawn dead person at the forefront? Is that his head that’s twisted, or his torso?

    This image totally lacks depth and perspective. There’s no continuity, and it appears as if each character has been lifted and placed haphazardly about the background.

    Anyone else see these problems?

  19. I think everyone sees those problems, M! But that one figure you mention is Maxwell Lord, who did get his head twisted around by Wonder Woman. So THAT’s intentional, at least.

  20. The DCU does appeal to me. I am a mega-DC fanboy. And DC’s output of late has been very dark since Identity Crisis. BUT, well written, IMHO. So I have kept reading. Good writing trumps the darkness, for me.

    And yet, looking at this image of things to come, I just feel exhausted. I know that zero conflict = zero story, but couldn’t DC spend a couple of years with a wee bit of light-heartedness? Wsa anyone else shocked by the brutal gutting of a female characetr in the last issue of GL Corps? Made Sue Dibney look bright and shiny by coparison. Meanwhile, Cooke’s Spirit, Dini’s Batman, Morrison’s Superman, the Johns/Donner Superman, and Johns’ Green Lantern are all fun, witty, and approachable to non-nerds, the kind of comics we used to call “high-octane” without resorting to cheap shock tactics. And the characters in those books have adevntures that do not involve constantly weeping or gnashing their teeth or being raped or raping or twisting heads off, or whatever. So obviosuly DC knows how to create engaging comics, without all the darkness, when it chooses to do so.

    Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis and 52 have all been well and good, and advanced the mega-plots, and added new menace to the DCU, and just told a damn good yarn, pure and simple. All of Didio’s stated goals with those projects have been met, i think. But I am ready for some FUN back in my funnybooks.

  21. > wait- isn’t the DCU all fictional cities? where is the statue of liberty?

    The DCU isn’t ALL fictional citites. The DCU’s got a New York City, as well as a Gotham and a Metropolis and whatever else.

    Still, as I said over at COMICON PULSE, I find my tastes for seeing New York’s buildings and monuments lying in rubble is a little less than it was when I was younger. It’s an exciting image and I’m sure whatever event it ties to will be great comics, but then again, I find myself kinda wanting to see a story someday where our heroes, for example, prevent the Statue of Liberty from going ka-blooey instead of just standing around its wreckage…

  22. The DC heroes are all sad because of one or more of the following:

    – They just figured out Hawkman’s continuity and now he’s gone from the DCU.

    – Al Gore says global warming will kill us all.

    – Jeff Smith’s Shazam comic looks so damn good in comparison to what they have to offer.

    – They are upset over the constant repeats of “Legion of Superheroes” on KidsWB! And also over the general lack of Triplicate Girl, even though she’s in the opening credits.

    – Their big guest spot in Garth Ennis’ “The Boys” is shot now that the book is leaving DC.

    – NBC’s “Heroes” looks like it may have superheroes more angsty and more humorless than they are and they don’t know if they can take the competition.

    – Not enough people plugging National Gorilla Suit Day

    – Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) still says global warming is a hoax.

    – Superman is upset over the box office of his latest movie. Everybody else thinks he’s being a princess about it, but you know how needy Clark can get. He gets a hangnail and EVERYBODY’S gotta come running.

    – They can’t figure out who the new Ronin is in New New Avengers.

    – The HDTV in the Justice League satellite is on the fritz and Geek Squad isn’t answering their calls.

    – They realize they must kneel before Dave Campbell’s Strong, Healthy Teeth.

    – “When is Brad Meltzer going to do something really cool in JLA??!?”

    – None of them understand any of this damn global warming crap, even after watching “Happy Feet.”

    – They’re afraid Darwyn Cooke may be right.

    I could be wrong about some of that.

  23. Hey C.Brown,

    Yeah, I knew it was intentional, but it looks as if they originally drew it face up, then decided at the last minute to change the orientation.

  24. Hey M,

    I really don’t want to defend this drawing, but I do get that backward head. Although, at first I thought it was a bad drawing of dead Superboy, and it didn’t make sense to me until someone else id’d him as Max Lord. So where is Dead Superboy in that picture?

    Hey, Edward: “- NBC’s “Heroes” looks like it may have superheroes more angsty and more humorless than they are and they don’t know if they can take the competition.” And yet, it is still more fun and interesting! Weird, huh?

  25. All the characters and scenes are from things that span the last 27 years of DCU events– Elseworlds, WWIII, Identity and Infinite Crisis, and 52.
    No idea WHICH Flash that is; his belt confuses me.
    A few characters seem to be pondering their futures– all the ones looking toward our right. Mary Marvel’s future is indeterminate. Ion nd one-time girlfriend Donna Troy in an old outfit might have something new happening together or individually. Scott Free/Mister Miracle has often been missing from the last few years of DCU and he looks as though he is pondering the fates of those recently deceased below him, as though he knows his fate in the upcoming New Gods event.

    This looks like it might be an event that will “explain” and connect all the DCU including Elseworlds for the last 27 years and into the near future.
    (That seems to be some sort of bugaboo that editorial has, that everything be connected and “make sense”.) It will probably be an event book touted as the thing that will solve all the continuity problems forever even as it gets you ready for the next cataclysmic hullabaloo (just as this entry of yours asks for) that will make the DCU even more isolationist than ever before.

  26. “why is Batman wearing pants?”
    It’s a variation of one of the 8 million Bat-suits and Rah A’Ghul garb; Son of the Demon type shit. But judging by the photo they are going to attempt to sell people crap yet again. You’d think after all this time they’d also update Barda and Scott’s Kirby era outfits. Now that’s thwe real injustice.

  27. AH! This is the sort of thing I have been looking for. Great article. Doing some research for an article. You should add buttons to the bottom of your posts to social bookmarking sitest.

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