Pop Culture Chronicles

Legends

When Executive Editor, Dick Giordano first pitched the idea for the Legends mini-series to Editor, Mike Gold, the series was pitched as "Crisis 2." It was a follow-up, but not a true sequel to Crisis on Infinite Earths. With the outcome of Crisis having been a merging together of the multiverse into a single universe, heroes who once inhabited different earths could now have their first major crossover without it requiring inter-dimensional travel.

The series is notable for several reasons, including the first appearance of the post-crisis Captain Marvel (Shazam). It also includes the first appearance of Amanda Waller and the modern origin of the Suicide Squad before Harley Quinn was even a thought. Even President Ronald Reagan plays a prominent role. The story also introduces a new Justice League line-up, transitioning from the Gypsy/Vibe/Vixen version to a roster including heroes who prior to Crisis inhabited a number of different earths. There was Dr. Fate (earth-two), Blue Beetle (earth-four), Batman (earth-one), Captain Marvel (earth-S), and others, but now all inhabiting a single universe. 

The series had a fantastic creative team consisting of John Ostrander (plot), Len Wein (script), John Byrne (pencils), and Karl Kesel (inks). So the story is not shabby by any stretch and the art is even better. The story is a bit juvenile by today's standards, but still held my attention. The whole G. Gordon Godfrey thing was a bit lame IMO, with the now tired plot of a public figure trying to turn the populace against super-heroes and the government finally intervening. Not being a fan of Darkseid or the Fourth World, I prefer a crisis without his involvement. His discussions with the Phantom Stranger as they observe the human (and meta-human) responses to Darkseid's machinations, with Darkseid's low view of humanity and the Stranger's confidence in the heroic ideal, was reminiscent of the wager between God and Satan in the biblical Book of Job. This shouldn't be surprising considering Ostrander's background in theology and it was a welcome addition to the plot.

While the series was published in 1988, and I collected the series new, it took me until this month to finally read it. Only thirty years. But when it came out I was busy going to college and getting engaged. The start of a new vocation and an out-of-state move meant my comics hobby would go on hiatus for a while. I've been back into comics since around 1999, but just never got into Legends until now as I'm planning to read, or re-read, all of DC's major crossovers. Perhaps my reflections will be presented here. 

Superman and Superwoman

I loved the team-up comic titles when I was growing up in the 70s. These books teamed A-lister super-heroes with monthly guest-stars. There was Marvel Team-Up which paired Spiderman with monthly co-stars and Marvel Two-in-One which did the same with the Thing. There was Brave and the Bold over at DC which teamed Batman with other heroes throughout the multiverse and DC Comics Presents which did the same with Superman. 

I especially liked the annuals of DC Comics Presents, the first of which teamed the Man of Steel with his Earth-Two Golden Age doppelganger as they fought Ultraman of Earth-Three. The third annual teamed Superman with Captain Marvel, his Earth S counterpart. It was interesting that these two would team up since decades earlier National Periodical Publications (now DC Comics) sued Fawcett (owners of Captain Marvel) for copyright infringement because Captain Marvel seemed too much like a Superman knockoff. DC has now had the rights to Captain Marvel for over 40 years, having purchased Fawcett's super heroes.

I recently picked up the second Annual at a comic show for one dollar. It guest-starred a female derivative of Superman called Superwoman. The story is juvenile by today's standards, written by Elliot S! Maggin. The art by Pollard and DeCarlo is passable. I will say, to the story's credit, that the mystery of Superwoman's secret identity kept me guessing through most of the book, though I should have figured it out. The resolution of a mysterious sub-plot regarding Superwoman's genealogy was one I didn't see coming at all, but again, I should have. 

The alter-ego of Superwoman in this comic hasn't been the only character to wear the Superwoman moniker throughout DC's history. The first was Lois Lane beginning in 1943. Lois would either gain super powers temporarily, or in a dream, or in an imaginary tale, or in an alternate reality created by Mxyzptlk magic. A more recent story with Lois as Superwoman was in All-Star Superman #2. Another Superwoman was Luma Lynai of the planet Staryl.

The Superwoman of Earth-Three has the alter ego of Lois Lane and the Amazon powers of Wonder Woman. She is part of the villainous Crime Syndicate. She is the most mainstream Superwoman in the current DC multiverse. 

Another Superwoman, Laurel Kent, resides on Earth-11, a planet of reversed-gender characters. She appeared in Superman/Batman #23 (2005) and in Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer: Superwoman/Batwoman one-shot. 

In the post-crisis pre-52 universe, Dana Dearden, an obsessed Superman fan temporarily became a Superwoman through the power of stolen artifacts. Lucy Lane had taken on the role of Superwoman for a short time in that same universe.

More Convergence Tie-ins

Here is a rundown of what interests me most regarding Convergence, weeks three and four this April: 

Week Three: 1980s characters versus Tangent and Elseworld's characters.

Adventures of Superman. The pre-crisis Supergirl will die if she returns to her own dimension and time. It would be great if this turned out to not be predictable and we didn't have to see her die all over again. I'm so afraid the "closure" of Convergence is just another dead end leading to more of the current New 52 status quo.  

Wonder Woman. versus vampires of Red Rain.

Justice League America. Elongated Man and the Detroit Justice League versus Tangent characters.

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes.

New Teen Titans. versus Tangent's Doom Patrol.  

Week Four: Pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths heroes of original multiverse against characters of alternate realities. 

Justice Society of America. A chance to regain their youth, but not without cost. Are the JSA going to get the shaft yet again? 

Infinity Inc. versus post-apocalyptic Jonah Hex.

Detective Comics by Len Wein. Earth-Two Robin (Dick Grayson) and the Huntress (Helena Wayne) are still alive and determining who will be the successor to Earth-Two Batman who is still dead. Can there ever be a universe in which the awesome Golden Age Batman could live again?

Action Comics. Earth-Two Superman and Power Girl versus Luther and Stalin of Red Son.

World's Finest Comics by Paul Levitz. The Original Seven Soldiers of Victory.

Crime Syndicate. Earth-Three villains versus One Million universe's Batman and Superman. 

Blue Beetle. Earth-Four Blue Beetle with Captain Atom and the Question. 

Shazam. The Earth-Five Marvel Family and the Gaslight universe. 

Plastic Man and the Freedom Fighters. Earth-X heroes versus Nazis. 

While I'm looking forward to the return of these great retro heroes, I hope it isn't just to watch them fade into oblivion yet again.  

 

Convergence Tie-ins

It seems that fans of the pre-52 universe or pre-crisis multiverse are destined for disappointment if I'm correctly interpreting what I've been reading. It seems the heroes of previous worlds brought back for Convergence will only be brought back for closure. They will, it seems, be called upon to go back to their oringinal times and experience the same deaths, or be retconned out of existence, as before. And here I was hoping they'd be given another chance and that the 40 cities plucked from dead worlds and brought together on Telos would have a future. But it sounds as if it's the same old stuff like when the Golden Age Superman and Lois were brought back in Infinite Crisis only to die again. Just a nod and honorable mention of a past that is never to be again. 

I still hope I'm wrong. Like other fans, I would love to see the old and new multiverse exist side-by-side. But if DC does bring all these characters back only to wrap up their stories and kill them off again, I wonder if that is some kind of metaphor on DC's part. Maybe they're making a statement of how fans of the old DC must allow their old heroes to sacrifice themselves for the greater good. Again, I hope I'm wrong. 

All that being said, here are the two-parter titles starting in April that interest me because of either a retro or Bat-Family connection:

Week One: Early 2000s characters [after multiverse ended with the first Crisis] versus the Flashpoint characters:

Superman by Dan Jurgens. Superman and Lois married and expecting their first child. Let me guess. They'll have to sacrifice a bright future together so that the New 52 can continue. I hope I'm wrong.

Batgirl. Stephaine Brown, Cassandra Cain, and Red Robin versus Flashpoint Catwoman. Will this be the comeback or the ultimate send-off of the two interim Batgirls? 

Nightwing and Oracle by Gail Simone. Will Dick Grayson and a still paralyzed Barbara Gordon take their relationship to the next level? Nightwing and Oracle versus Flashpoint Hawkman and Hawkwoman. 

Titans. Starfire, Donna Troy, and Roy Harper.

Justice League. Supergirl, Zatanna, and Jade at Jessie Quick's baby shower face a threat from Flashpoint Aquaman.

Batman and Robin. Bruce Wayne, Damian Wayne, and the Red Hood.

Week Two: 1990s characters versus the Kingdom Come characters:

Batman: Shadow of the Bat. Batman teams up with Azrael Batman.    

Justice League International. Collides with the Kingdom Come world. 

Catwoman. Versus Kingdom Come Batman.

Superboy. Connor Kent versus Kingdom Come Superman. 

Harley Quinn. versus Captain Carrot. What?!?!?!?

I'll put what interests me about weeks 3 and 4 of April in my next post. 

Convergence is Coming

I've waited a long time in hopes of a return to the pre-crisis multiverse characters. After a number of false hopes and false starts (i.e., Infinite Crisis; 52; Justice Society of America, vol. 3, Annual 1; Huntress, vol. 3; Worlds' Finest; and Earth 2) DC has promised to bring back the original Justice Society and heroes of Earths 1-4, S, and X of the original multiverse.

A weekly 9-part series called Convergence begins this Spring. DC says that all past continuity will matter. It seems a super villain has snatched up bits and pieces of supposed dead worlds and collected them in a realm beyond time and space called Telos. Here the heroes of worlds that existed prior to many of the reboots have continued to live their lives. This excites me to no end, unless DC is just teasing us as before, like when the Golden Age Superman returned from limbo only to die again and when Earth-Two returned with a somewhat original Justice Society only to be replaced with the New 52 Earth-2 after the post-Flashpoint reboot.

So in April and May every DC publication will crossover with Convergence. For those two months all regular titles will be suspended and temporarily replaced with two-issue limited series picking up stories and characters who existed in previous worlds prior to various reboots. Beginning tomorrow, I hope to list the titles crossing over with the Convergence series which interest me due to their retro appeal.

Phantom Lady Returns

After the short-lived Ajax-Farrell series, Phantom Lady disappeared from comics except for some Matt Baker reprints in I. W. Publications' Great Action Comics and Daring Adventures. But there were no new Phantom Lady stories from 1955 until 1973. DC Comics had bought the rights to the Quality Comics characters in 1956 which included Phantom Lady.

Her first DC appearance was in Justice League of America # 107-108 during an annual JLA/JSA crossover event. The heroes of Earth's One and Two traveled to Earth-X, home of the Quality characters on a world where the Nazis had won World War II. The super-hero team of this earth included the Quality characters Uncle Sam, Black Condor, Doll Man, Phantom Lady, The Ray, and the Human Bomb. They were known as the Freedom Fighters who were aided by the JLA and JSA in finding the mind-controlling devices that kept the world in submission to the Third Reich. It's kind of corny and if the same premise of a parallel world where the Nazis won WW II were used today, the story would be undoubtedly more sophisticated.

DC took Phantom Lady back to her original yellow and green colors, but retained something of the plunging neckline contributed by Matt Baker (although not as extreme). The Freedom Fighters received their own title in 1976, America's bi-centennial. What better time to return Uncle Sam to the pages of comics as a super-hero? In the Freedom Fighters series the team had relocated to Earth-One. The final issue (#15, 1978) included an origin of Phantom Lady, for the first time.

By 1981 she was a recurring member of Roy Thomas' All-Star Squadron, which took place on Earth-Two during the war years, coinciding with Phantom Lady's original stories in Police Comics. Her past was retconned to make her a cousin of Ted Knight (a.k.a., Starman). It was during this era that the Freedom Fighters relocated to Earth-X where they were later met by the JLA/JSA in 1973. 

When all the Earths of the Multiverse were merged into one during the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Earth-X was retconned out of existence. An older, post-crisis Phantom Lady appeared in Damage (1994) in which it was revealed that Sandra Knight had married Iron Munro, whose character was an analogue to the Golden Age Superman in the post-crisis 1940s. Knight served as a government spy during the Cold War and later became head mistress of a school for female spies.

Her students included Dee Tyler who became the new Phantom Lady whose adventures were chronicled in Action Comics Weekly # 639-641. Tyler joined a new version of the Freedom Fighters and died a violent death in Infinite Crisis # 1 (2005).

In the Post-52 multiverse a new version of Freedom Fighters, including Phantom Lady, resided on Earth-10 as a one-panel cameo in the final issue of 52 made clear. To my knowledge we never got to see this team in action. There was, however, another version of Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters which resided on New Earth, appeared in two mini-series, and included a new Phantom Lady, Stormy Knight (not a relative of the original).

The last appearance of Sandra Knight, of which I'm aware, was in the final issues of Birds of Prey, vol.2, #14-15. Here an elderly Sandra appears with Black Canary and Lady Blackhawk in a modern adventure which parallels an earlier, but yet untold, adventure told in flashbacks. The flashback story took place in 1950 as Phantom Lady, the original Black Canary, and Lady Blackhawk battle a Nazi war criminal. Manhunter, Kate Spencer, also appears in this issue. She was revealed to be Phantom Lady's granddaughter in Manhunter # 23 (2006).

Since the latest DC reboot, Flashpoint, we now have the new 52 multiverse. Time will tell whether Sandra Knight ever even existed in this new reality. 

Now we have a new Phantom Lady, Jennifer Knight, who currently appears in her own mini-series along with Doll Man. Knight is a freelance writer, daughter of investigative reporter Harry Knight who was murdered to keep him from exposing a prominent crime family. Jennifer becomes Phantom Lady to avenge her father's death.

She is aided by Doll Man, Dane Maxwell (the original was Darrell Dane), a techno-whiz, who provides her with a costume and special technology. In addition to being able to cast black light via special gloves, she can also take on a phantom state, project hard light objects, and trap victims in an eerie blacklight nothingness.

The new series is well written by the team of Gray and Palmiotti with very good art by Cat Staggs and an awesome first issue cover by Amanda Conner. The dialogue is good and sometimes hilarious, the story as believable as possible for a super hero comic.

In this series it's revealed that Dane and Jennifer have had something of an intimate relationship that is taken more seriously by Dane, but Jennifer is gradually coming around. The series takes place in Metropolis (like they need another super hero), so it will be interesting to see how all this fits in to the larger DC universe. There is also hope for a revisioned Freedom Fighters since Uncle Sam and the Ray have made a cameo in this series. I've always been a Phantom Lady fan and aside from some of the modernisms I dislike in today's comics, this series is not a disappointment and perhaps the most interesting that I'm currently reading.    

Kingdom Come Influences

DC Comics' 1990s Kingdom Come series was not only influenced by DC's Golden Age history, but the series has been quite influential on subsequent DC projects. I'll first mention some of Kingdom Come's influence on the mainline DC universe and then I'll mention some of the Golden Age concepts that inspired parts of the series.

Kingdom Come's Influence:

Earth 22 - In the new and rebooted multiverse that followed events of 52, it was revealed that the Kingdom Come story actually took place on Earth-22. Of course now that the entire multiverse has been rebooted with the new 52, who knows?

Red Robin - The first character to don the Red Robin costume was Dick Grayson, formerly Robin, of the Kingdom Come universe. In this reality he was married to Starfire (now deceased) and their grown daughter is Nightstar. The Red Robin mantle in the mainline DC universe has never belonged to Dick Grayson, but the first Red Robin was Jason Todd in Countdown to Final Crisis # 17 where Todd dons the costume as he fights alongside the Batman of Earth 51. The current Red Robin of the new 52 universe is Tim Drake, another former Robin. 

Ibn al Xu'fffash - In Arabic this means "son of the Bat." It was revealed in Kingdom Come that Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul had a son. In the mainline DC universe he is the latest Robin, the boy wonder Damian Wayne. In Kingdom Come there is a romantic spark between Bruce Wayne's son and Dick Grayson's daughter. In Justice Society of America, volume 3, # 22, they are shown twenty years later with two children attending the Earth-22 Batman's funeral. 

Red Arrow - Roy Harper, the former Speedy, all grown up. He made his first appearance as Red Arrow in Kingdom Come # 2.

Maxine Hunkel - The altar ego of Earth-22's Red Tornado. Maxine's New Earth counterpart is the granddaughter of Mathilda Hunkel, the original Red Tornado. Maxine first appears in Justice Society of America, volume 3, # 1 and she adopts the name Cyclone in the third issue. It remains to be seen, as far as I know, what and where her place will be in the new 52 multiverse.  

Atom Smasher - The godson of the original Atom, Al Pratt. Atom Smasher was known as Nuklon in the first Infinity Inc. series.  

Wildcat - In Kingdom Come he is a man-panther possessing the spirit of Ted Grant, the original Wildcat. On New Earth the man-panther version turns out to be Grant's long lost son. He at first shares the name Wildcat with his father, joining the JSA in Justice Society of America, volume 3, # 4. Upon switching to the JSA All-Stars team, the man-panther changes his code name to Tomcat. It remains to be seen where his place will be in the New 52 multiverse.

Lightning - Jennifer Pierce, the metahuman daughter of Black Lightning, first appeared in Kingdom Come. Her New Earth counterpart was first introduced in Justice Society of America, volume 3, # 12.  

Blue Beetle - The Kingdom Come Blue Beetle wore an armored battle suit which I suspect might have served as inspiration for the Jaime Reyes version of the character in the mainline DC Universe.

Influences Upon Kingdom Come:

The Flash - The Flash of Earth-22 wears a helmet similar to that of Jay Garrick, the original Flash.

Red Tornado - The oringal Red Tornado of Earth-22 is Mathilda Hunkel, active and armed to the hilt in Kingdom Come.  

Bulletman / Bulletgirl - Formerly of Fawcett Publications, this duo was very popular in the 1940s. The Fawcett heroes were purchased by DC Comics in 1972. Of the notable appearances of this duo are Justice League of America # 136-138 and the Power of Shazam series in the 90s.

Living Doll - Appearing on Superman's shoulder in Kingdom Come #3, she is the daughter of Doll Man and Doll Girl, a Golden Age duo purchased by DC from Quality Comics. 

Phantom Lady - Another Golden Age character purchased from Quality, she appears in Kingdom Come as a literal phantom resembling Bettie Page.

Huntress - An African version of the Golden Age character, Paula Brooks.

Vigilante - Based on the Golden Age motorcyle cowboy, the Kingdom Come version is part robotic with a Gatlin gun for one of his arms. 

So there we have my rundown of charaters from Kingdom Come that I find particularly intriguing due either to their Golden Age inspiration, or to how they have subsequently inspired groups like the Justice Society and the Batman Family whose origins date back to the Golden Age.

Kingdom Come: Earth 22

I don't know if anyone reads this blog and after a three month hiatus I'm sure some have given up on it. All I can say is that it's been a busy summer and I hope to get back to it now. Speaking of getting around to things, I just got around to finally reading the Kingdom Come mini-series published by DC comics in 1996. I've owned half the series that long and tracked down the additional back issues a couple of years ago. I finally read the whole series in a couple of sittings.

Most fans, according to reviews I've read, seem to either love or hate Kingdom Come. I happened to love it since I am so retro and there is a lot here for a retro fan to enjoy. If you've read this blog for any length of time then you know that for many years I have grieved the loss of the original Justice Society of America who were revived as residents of Earth Two in the 60s and 70s when we saw annual JLA/JSA crossovers in the pages of Justice League of America.

The JSA really got the shaft in the aftermath of Crisis on Infinite Earths since the multiverse was merged into one earth and the Golden Age Superman and Batman were retconned out of existence. But I loved the idea of an alternate earth where the heroes in mainstream continuity had older and more experienced dopplegangers in another universe. I enjoyed imagining the possible futures of the more modern incarnations of DC heroes.

One of my favorites was the older, graying-around-the-temples Superman of the Golden Age. The closest DC has come to filling the vacuum left by this character was the Superman in Kingdom Come. Here is an elseworlds story outside mainline DC continuity. It's a possible future of the DC heroes who in this series are older than their mainline counterparts. The big three, Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman are all older in this reality, retired from public life,  and a new generation of metahumans now roam the earth, but their brand of justice is vigilantism. They make a big mess of things leading the big three out of retirement to make sure the lawless metahumans are stopped before things get worse. Heroes remaining committed to the original ideals of the "never ending battle" are recruited to help the big three.

So other than older dopplegangers including a Superman who resembles the Golden Age hero, what did I like about Kingdom Come? Well, first that it was drawn (painted) by Alex Ross who is one of my favorite artists. Now that he works for Dynamite Entertainment he does a lot of plotting and covers, but I miss his interior art work. But I love Alex Ross because his characters always look so real. While not an extremely educated critique, that is, in a nutshell, what I love about Ross. From every fold in the clothing to the wrinkles on the facial expressions, I just love Alex Ross' work. It's no secret that Ross is often inspired by real (and imaginary) people for crowd scenes and such. But I suppose that an artist has to get his inspiration from somewhere.

So there is no telling who will be making a cameo in a Ross production. But on my first reading through Kingdom Come I was so caught up in the big picture of the story that I missed a lot of the cameos. After reading the wikipedia article on Kingdom Come, I went back through and looked for all the characters I missed. It was like hunting for Waldo of the Where's Waldo fame, but I think I found most of the "hidden" characters. Here are the ones that most interested me:

- The Gotham street gang stopped by Bat-robots in issue one bear enough resemblance to Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids to be their Kingdom Come dopplegangers. The Fat Albert of this universe has obviously failed to be the moral influence of the Albert we all know and love.

- In the second issue Phil Sheldon, identified by the eye-glasses and eye-patch combination, appears at the Justice League news conference. He was the narrator in Ross' Marvels over at the other company.

- The second issue nightclub scene has a lot of cameos. These include Ross' nod to retro music with lookalikes of Tommy and the Acid Queen from Tommy and the Village People. By the third issue a colorfully clad group of young men at a Justice League meeting bear striking resemblances to The Monkees. Also on hand are robotic members of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. A character named King Marvel looks like a blend of Captain Marvel, Jr. and Elvis Presley, which is fitting since I hear that Elvis' hairstyle was influenced by Cap, Jr., a childhood hero of the king of rock and roll. I can only guess if that's where Elvis got the idea for the capes, but I notice that King Marvel's cape looks like one Elvis would have worn. In the KC reality I think it was the King who influenced the Captain. 

- Also at the nightclub are Zan of the Wonder Twins as a waiter and Marvin, both from the Super Friends 70s TV series. I also managed to spot the Shadow, Sherlock Holmes, and Rorschach.

- Carrie Kelly from Dark Knight Returns waits tables at Planet Krypton.

- I understand that the epilogue of the graphic novel version includes cameos of Alex Ross, Mark Waid, and even Stan Lee. But I don't have the graphic novel version.

Those are the cameos that grabbed my attention. In my next post I'll write about the subsequent influence of Kingdom Come on the mainline DC continuity and especially on the JSA.              

Superman of Earth 23

I enjoyed the return of the Earth-23 Superman in the latest Action Comics, vol. 2, # 9. He was introduced in the mini series Final Crisis 7 (2009) in which all the Supermen of the multiverse came together against a common threat.

On Earth-23, Superman is President of the United States and also black. In Action Comics we learn of a potential controversy surrounding his place of birth. This echoes the controversy involving Obama's birthplace which is nothing more than his political enemies grasping at straws. While some did not appreciate the parallel to the Obama controversy, I thought it was well done. Imagine the uproar if it were discovered that a President was born off planet.

The Earth-23 Superman's alter ego is Calvin Ellis. It took me a while to realize that this name is derived from Kal El. I'm slow like that sometimes.

It was good to see the return of Earth-23's Wonder Woman, who is also black, and Ellis' assistant, Courtney. I'm glad that not every concept introduced in Final Crisis was scrapped with the coming of the New 52. Once a new Multiverse was introduced in the 52 series, DC published a list of earths cataloged thus far. Earth-23 was not yet on the list, and was not yet named as such in Final Crisis. I look forward to a complete catalog of Earths in the new 52 universe and I suspect there will be 52 of them.

The multiversal take on this story was underscored by the appearance of the Lois Lane and Clark Kent of yet another parallel earth. We haven't met these folks before and the Kent of this planet is not Superman. I look forward to more back story on these characters. And it was great to see the use of the Superman robots on Earth-23 which caused me to reminisce about some old Silver Age stories. Overall, I was pleased with Action Comics # 9 and I hope the title can be a place to introduce even more Supermen of the multiverse.   

Great News for Retro Fans!

The return of Earth-2's Power Girl and the Huntress is some of the best pop culture news I've heard in a long time. The first four issues of JSA: Classified in 2005 explored the questions of Power Girl's true origin. This story arc, wonderfully executed by Geoff Johns, Amanda Connner, and Jimmy Palmiotti, served as prelude to the events of Infinite Crisis which began that same year. It was later revealed, in the final issue of 52, that the crisis had indeed led to the birth of a new multiverse. 

In Infinite Crisis, also penned by Johns, we learned that Power Girl was the lone survivor of the former multivere's Earth-Two, not to mention the last daughter of that universe's Krypton. Having been best friends with Earth-Two's Huntress, Helena Wayne, Power Girl's suppressed memories leads her to seek out the post-crisis (on infinite Earths) Huntress, Helena Bertinelli, who provides no answers regarding Power Girl's origin.

In Justice Society of America, volume 3, Annual 1, Power Girl goes to Earth-2 where she unites with the Huntress of that world (Helena Wayne). But in this post-Infinite Crisis, Post-52 world, another Power Girl already exists on Earth-2, leaving our Power Girl again displaced. 

Well now the DC universe has experienced yet another reboot resulting from Flashpoint. In this altered reality both Power Girl and the Huntress (Helena Wayne) have always been residents of Earth-2, but they are now stranded on DC's mainline earth (whether that be New Earth, Earth-1, or whatever they're calling it these days). While in this predicament, the duo's adventures will now be told in a new volume of Worlds' Finest, slated to appear in May. Notice the apostrophe after the "s" likely in acknowledgment of the Multiverse. The writer of this series is Paul Levitz, creator of the Huntress for the JSA revival in All-Star Comics back in the late 70s.

Huntress was originally the daughter of Earth-2's Batman and Catwoman, but the post-crisis Huntress was Helena Bertinelli, daughter of an Italian mob boss. The post-Flashpoint, new 52 universe combines the best of both worlds for the Huntress. Bertinelli is an alias of Helena Wayne. The Italian mob connection is present in Levitz's current Huntress limited series where she is in Italy under the assumed name of Bertinelli. She fights those who traffic in weapons and human beings. A couple of occasions revealed her fondness for cats, perhaps a nod to her being the Earth-2 Catwoman's daughter.

The Huntress, whether in the Wayne or Bertinelli incarnations, has always been firmly situated in the Batman family as either daughter or crime fighting protege. So it's fitting that this Batman family member will be paired with Superman family member, Power Girl, in the upcoming Worlds' Finest. The original World's Finest Comics regularly teamed Superman with Batman.

Adding to the excitement is another comic called Earth-2, also premiering in May and starring a rebooted Justice Society. Also, I hear that Grant Morrison will be writing a future series called Multiversity. I've been waiting over 20 years for Earth-2 to once again play a major part in DC comics. I'm excited.