When DC relaunched its superhero lineup in the 50s with new heroes bearing the names of its Golden Age heroes, like The Flash, Green Lantern, The Atom and Hawkman, they determined that any earlier stories took place on a parallel world called Earth 2, where the heroes emerged during the Great Depression/World War II and aged appropriately.  Every year, these classic heroes, the Justice Society of America, would guest star in a multi-part story in the pages of Justice League of America and young readers were fascinated by these alternate heroes.  Unfortunately, during Crisis on Infinite Earths, all of the DC Universe’s parallel worlds were merged into one, eliminating these crossover tales.

When DC recently revamped its lineup once again, with the New 52, Earth 2 was restored as a separate world, but rather than older versions of various characters, nearly all of these heroes were brand new novices tasked with defending their world from Darkseid’s forces– after the alien despot seemingly killed Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.  DC currently has two series that follow the heroes of this world, ‘Earth 2‘ and ‘Worlds’ Finest‘ which features Powergirl and The Huntress who are stranded on Earth 1 (the main DC Earth).  Now they are adding a new series, ‘Earth 2 : World’s End’ which will run weekly and help to further flesh out the heroes of this reality.

Daniel H. Wilson will serve as a “show runner” of sorts, coordinating a team of writers and artists.  Wilson himself will contribute to writing along with Tom Taylor, Paul Levitz, Marguerite Bennet, and Mike Johnson and Eddy Barrows, Jorge Jimenez, Stephen Segovia, Paulo Siqeira, and Tyler Kirkham will supply the artwork.  “This has been a charmed opportunity to jump straight into the deep end of a gritty, complex DC Comics series,” Wilson stated, “I feel incredibly lucky to work with Mike Cotton and the rest of the legendary DC team, figuring out the ultimate fates (and sometimes origins) of so many compelling Earth 2 characters in crisis. I’m having the time of my life.”

The series won’t debut until October, but until then, here is a piece of promotional artwork by Ben Oliver to tease you:

As seen in the background, Earth 2 is still riddled with flaming fire pits, designed to make Earth more like Apokolips and it appears that they are so powerful that they are shattering the moon.  In the foreground, we have Green Lantern seemingly losing his ring and Dr. Fate’s helmet having already been lost.  In the background, we see Powergirl being comforted by a black Superman, who debuts in Grant Morrison’s ‘Multiversity’ miniseries.  But of course the most striking image is that of Batman (Thomas Wayne) cradling his granddaughter The Huntress’ seemingly lifeless body.

Of course, these images could all be figurative or symbolic.  We’ll have to wait until the fall to find out for sure.  Will you be checking out this new series?

Source: The Nerdist