Last week, Earth 2 fans were treated to 60 pages of awesome art and story with Earth 2 #27 and the debut of Earth 2: World’s End, the double-sized first issue of the new weekly series. We continue the story here, with the Apokaliptian firepits ablaze on Earth 2 and minions of Darkseid emerging from each.
Much of the focus is on Val-Zod, Batman, Power Girl, Huntress and Red Tornado fighting with K’Li, Fury of Apokalips. Jimmy Olsen monitors everything from the Amazonian World Army Lab while providing intel to the Wonders. Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Dr. Fate, Flash and Aquawoman all head off to deal with the various nefarious new arrivals. We also have the two Mister Terrifics and Mister Miracle taking on Bedlam in a game of minds.
Positives
I love Earth 2. The concept, the characters etc. JSA will always be near and dear to my heart, and while this isn’t exactly that, it’s nice to see some of my favorite characters live on, though in vastly different representations. All the wonders really feel like their gelling together and becoming a team. It’s a greatly diverse and vast cast on display here, finally feeling like they’re coming to fruition. It’s also neat to have the Apokalips side of the New Gods going on here while we simultaneously are getting the New Genesis side of things in the Green Lantern: Godhead crossover. You can certainly sense things coming to a head between the two factions.
Negatives
For all that I love about the vastness of the cast of Earth 2, many of the characters get little more than a panel. Obviously, with a weekly, they will be gotten to, and with only 20 pages to work with, you can only fit so much story in. There are also many creatives involved with this, including multiple pencilers, and the transitions are not particularly smooth. It does break you out of the action momentarily. Also, Tom Taylor was the one to really revitalize the Earth 2 title, and his absence in the weekly is sorely missed. And his credit on the monthly title being parred down to mere co-writer makes me fear he will be off the book sooner rather than later.
Verdict
With issue #1 being pretty fantastic, it was inevitable that it would be a hard act to follow. The quality is not a massive drop, but for a weekly, balance is key, and this issue feels a bit weighted on one side over the other. Hopefully with time, things will smooth out. For now, it keeps the story fresh in our mind and moves us a step forward. I look forward to the next issue.
