Are They Even Trying Anymore?

O.k. so I’ve been a little underwhelmed by the announcements that have been coming out from DC this year at San Diego. Marvel has been rolling out with these amazing announcements and exclusives. It’s making DC seem second rate by comparison. But that is a post for another time. What this post is about is the new Salvation Run mini-series that DC has just announced with writer Bill Willingham and artist Sean Chen.

I won’t go into it all that much, I mean Newsarama just wrote an article about it. Basically, the idea is that somewhere in the universe there is going to be a prison planet where all the villains are going to be put. Does it seem like a good idea to put the smartest, most evil minds in one place? No, it does not. These aren’t horse thieves and pickpockets on some island in the Pacific. These are geniuses and inventors. Of course it is pretty obvious that it’s not the good guys behind this idea. For my guess who is behind it all let’s go to the second teaser image:

Ah. It’s not such a far leap to see the Earth that the Evil is inheriting is this Salvation Run planet. It is also not such a leap to see that it is Luthor who will be controlling the planet, for at least a while, before things are done. After all, the passage “blessed be the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth” comes from Matthew Book 5. It is in this book that Jesus walks around gathering followers, building his reputation, preaching his word. Thus we can assume from the Last Supper allusion that Luthor (in the Jesus position) is going to walk around trying to get everyone to follow him.

Of course, he isn’t the person behind it all. Look at what is coming out of the ground in the teaser image, look at the sky, and then take a look at the Salvation Run image.

It’s Darkseid’s planet, apparently policed by Parademons in funny hats. Then if you think about who has been rounding up the villains it kind of makes sense. It’s members of the Suicide Squad, which suggests Amanda Waller is in cahoots with someone who is taking orders from Darkseid if not Darkseid himself. However, there is also some overlap between the Suicide Squad and the Secret Six. Who is on the Secret Six? Knockout, former resident of Apokolips. I say the new member of the Secret Six is either another female fury or Mary Marvel, having fallen under the thrall of Granny Goodness. Look at the teaser image for that possible connection.

My main complaint is that drawing these conclusions wasn’t that hard. What good is a surprise if you can figure it out? DC has given us a present but we shake the box and figure out what’s inside. There still are plenty of surprises; we don’t know the brand or all the moving parts or whatever. However, we have a pretty good idea of what’s going on.

With such a lackluster SDCC, with so few announcements, do we think DC has stopped trying? Are they just taking us for granted, forcing more stuff down our throat that they want to sell rather than what we want to read? Have I become too jaded and cynical? I hope not but I’m concerned that this is the case.