Have you seen this woman?
concept art by Jim Lee
Of course you have. She popped up all across September’s #1 issues from DC Comics, both as a blink-or-you’ll-miss-her cameo in titles like All-Star Western or in jarringly conspicuous appearances such as The Savage Hawkman. But starting with her very first Easter egg manifestation in Justice League #1, readers have been questioning her role in the new DC Universe, positing that she may be a talisman to wish all the change away should the reboot go south. Was she intended as a fail-safe reset-the-reset button?
According to a blog post from DC Comics Editor-in-Chief Bob Harras, the hooded pink lady linking Flashpoint to the New 52 is more than a mere Where’s Waldo level anomaly. Though she’s not the keystone to the DC/Marvel crossover Ron hypothesized last month. Unsurprisingly, Harras’ emphasis is on forward progression and line-wide cohesion rather than potential retreat.
One of the coolest things for me about The New 52 was that it gave us the ability to work very far in advance. We knew exactly what we wanted to do in terms of connecting FLASHPOINT to our new universe. Geoff Johns had an amazing backstory for the mysterious woman who appears at the end of FLASHPOINT #5. We had a plan for where we thought she’d go next, but since we had enough time to really think, Jim Lee, Geoff and I figured out that it was possible to expand this character’s next appearance into ALL of the #1 issues – a daunting task to be sure, but a one-time opportunity to do something like this and really drive home how important this character is. To keep track of this plan, we created the wall in Liz’s office and put up each page as it was completed.
You’ll soon see the next step in this character’s evolution in the pages of JUSTICE LEAGUE, and in the months to come you will see more events ripple across titles as we continue to weave the DC Universe together and tell even more amazing stories.
So, who is this Pink Lady? Do you like the idea of connecting these disparate series by a mystical figure associated with Flashpoint? Is it too much, too soon?
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It’s called The New 52 maybe all 52 books are on the 52 seperate worlds of the DCU!!!!!! THT WOULD BE AMAZING
Wait, why does she have claws? That’s creepy.
My first thought was: “Girl needs to trim them fingernails…”
srry forgot some things and maybe shes like the watcher and she has to somehow get all the heros back together on one earth where some might coexist in one world but other books take place on like earth 2 or 3
aka A Monitor. Or perhaps, in this world, the only Monitor.
BTW… does Matt Ryder, Waverider or even Vanishing Point show up in the new DCU yet?
Last time I saw them was the Time Masters mini that ushered in Flashpoint… then what?
Also… people forgetting that some of these comics are setting up for a conflict w/ Darkseid. Could be the mystery woman is a New God. The Source was always trying to deconstruct the 4th World to create the 5th World… could the new DCU be the 5th World after Flashpoint?
Whatever they may say I still believe she’s a Get Out of Jail Free card for DC if they ever decide to go back to the old universe.
Also, I’m pretty sure I’ve figured out who she is: Halcyon, a minor character introduced by Brian Azzerello and Jim Lee in Superman’s For Tomorrow arc. Check out the similarities: http://follow-the-nerd.blogspot.com/2011/10/un-mystifying-purple-lady-of-dcu.html
You beat me to it! 🙂
great research! I have never read “for tommorrow”, what did she do in that arc? powers?
I think she’s simply the key that could let DC revert back to the old universe, if the New 52 goes belly up in the future.
She was clearly put in as connective tissue for the next event, whether it was a return to the old DCU or not. I do think it’s too early to fire up another massive linewide event, although I can see them using the explanation of “This is the first time this has ever happened in the new DCU” to fight fatigue and bolster interest. DiDio’s mentioned that there have been no Crises in this universe, so perhaps it’ll be something along those lines. The Pink Lady clearly has some semblance of world manipulation and universe authority. I hope not, though.
I like the concept of the Pink Lady, I liked going back and searching for her in the #1s. It was a neat form of Easter egg. And with Justice League on a six-week schedule, hopefully everything else in the DCU will be settled in by the time the team’s together and the Darkseid arc finished. Perhaps then it won’t feel too soon to be launching a Pink Lady event.
It’s the Time Trapper.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Trapper
Ooh, Time Trapper. That seems more likely than my Halcyon suggestion. But they have certainly borrowed from her look!
I thought she was a fun Easter Egg and it would be neat if she’s a little more than that, but I hope not TOO much more. I like the mystery her appearance brings to the line, and I’d almost rather that hang around for a long time – maybe occasional new Easter Eggs across the line or in certain segments of it – to build up some mystery and such for…who knows? Frankly, it’s too soon to be really looking towards a universe-wide event, and I definitely don’t want to see any more alternate Earths as a major staple of the DCU any time soon.
Now that we’ve seen the concept art does anyone notice just how obviously many of the #1 just outright copied that picture? I mean there are a couple cases where it looks like they just literally photoshopped the concept art right in…(ex. Batwoman, Green Lantern)
I (and others) have thought she may be Glorith (who kind of goes hand in hand with the Time Trapper Theory).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glorith
Bean
I wonder if the mirror villain in batgirl is connected, too. His whole “you’ve cheated death” bit at the end of #2 suggests he might be aware of the “wrongness” of this world.
I posted this back on Sept 25th on the Legion of Superheroes #1 thread….
“Could it be that the mysterious cloaked woman that is showing up in all the new DC number 1′s is the Legionnaire Glorith? Take a look at her in Legion of Superheroes #1 – she has a similar outfit to the mystery woman. Also, she is distraught about someone named Oaa dying. She says the following line, “I wish somehow I could turn back that moment, make it has if it never happened.”
Sound familiar? Flash tried that shit to save his mom and looked what happened?
It states that Glorith’s home world is unknown, and she has the power to manipulate magical energies. Sounds pretty mysterious to me.
Could Glorith have found a way to travel back in time and visit all the people effected by Flashpoint? Is she the cloaked woman?”
An intriguing, clever, but potentially banal and insipid narrative device. It will really depend on what they do with her and the quality of the story they tell. One thing is certain: the mysterious pink lady will certainly help sell comics.
About Glorith, check this out, guys..
http://www.comictreadmill.com/CTMBlogarchives/2008images/Adv338Face-thumb.jpg
I didn’t catch her in Justice League. My first look at her was in Action Comics. I like the idea of this possible monitor in the New 52. Cannot wait to see her again.
well that makes me wonder if her presence means the old DCU still exists. Really DC needs more worlds and earth’s to blow up.
I wonder if her blatant appearance in Resurrection Man means Mitch will have an active role in the coming months, or if the artist simply didn’t get the note to make her cameo subtle.
DC events suuuuuck – so I’m not looking forward to more wall punching, satellite rape, and pages that look like Where’s Waldo with exploding heads.
That having been said, I really enjoyed playing “Where’s Waldo” with the Pink Lady, on a purely child-like level, and it made me go back over all my #1s a couple of times. I loved it. i wish she was in every issue ever.
>DC events suuuuuck
How’s Fear Itself working out for you?
It’s less that DC events suck, and more that most events suck. Spider Island is the only recent event I’ve enjoyed immensely.
My understanding is that she’s a new character so far as all of DC’s higher ups have said. We’ve heard “five year plan,” there have been a number of references to the New Gods and their tech. I predict a long game culminating in the return of the New Gods under the pen of Morrison and this character will be the new Metron or such.
That sounds like a fun ride
Uata the Watchress!
All I can say is that if this is used to bring back the old DCU, that might be what finally makes me drop things completely.
I’ve been a pretty hard-core DC fan for the last couple of decades. I’ve been enjoying the new 52 (well, not all of it but more than enough). But if they did a return after all this, that would cross my own personal threshhold.
An odd place to draw the line, perhaps… but it’s where I would likely draw it.
Lady Clitoris…the magic fun button of the new dcu!
I can’t say I understand why people have thought she was a device that could bring back the previous DCU. They’ve gone head first in to the New 52, there’s no going back. And even if they did what would that mean? No classic Vertigo Characters, no Wildstorm and the classic costumes? I just don’t see why you need a device to do that. You just stop using the characters and you draw the classic costumes. Cause honestly, on a fundamental level, it still feels like DC. It’s not like they changed the universe very dramatically.
She always seemed to me to be the Anti-Moniter turning into the Black Lantern at the end of the Sinestro Corps War, just a link from one event to the next.
this is true hypothesized investigative journalism here. good stuff.
Did I imagine it or was she also in Batman #2 last week? Has she shown up in any other #2 books this month?
I thought the same thing – the smashed car, right?
Read my comment previously about Fifth World and New Gods, then read this quoted text:
“In December 2007, DC Executive Editor Dan DiDio was discussing the aftermath of Death of the New Gods and said, “It’s the advent of the Fifth World… I think we’ve telegraphed so much that the New Gods are coming upon a rebirth, and the story that we’re telling with them now is a continuation of the story that was established when Kirby first conceived the concept. Talk about death — Kirby blew up worlds at the start of the series. The story started with, ‘The Old Gods Died!’ which made room for the New Gods — we’re picking up that thread and launching the DCU into the future.”[7]
That series led into Final Crisis and DiDio clarified things further, saying “the Fourth World is over. The battle between the forces of Darkseid and those of Highfather is over, and a new direction is in place for the characters in what will be deemed the Fifth World.”[8] The series’ writer, Grant Morrison, added, “In Jack Kirby’s Fourth World books… it’s pretty clear that the New Gods have known about Earth for a long time and in JLA ten years ago, I suggested that part of their interest in us was rooted in the fact that Earth was destined to become the cradle of a new race of ‘Fifth World’ super-divinities — an eventuality Darkseid is eager to prevent from occurring.”[9] It was during that run on JLA that Morrison had Metron deliver a speech outlining the general principles:
“ How like little children you appear to me. How small is your comprehension and yet… there is a seed in you… The Old Gods died and gave birth to the New. These New Gods, even such as I, must also pass, in our turn. Our search was long and our war continues, but we found the planetary cradle of the Gods to Come. … you are only forerunners.[10] ”
Later, in the JLA storyline “World War III”, Metron’s dialog is more specific: “As New Genesis is to the Fourth World, Earth shall be to the Fifth that is to come.”