This review contains spoilers.
Many people believe that superhumans cause more problems than they solve.
Earth 2: Society #8 is written by Dan Abnett with art by Jorge Jimenez. In this issue, the superheroes have to figure out their place in this new world after their battle with Anarky.
The cover by Jimenez and Alejandro Sanchez is a little misleading. At first glance, you might assume that Hawkgirl is fighting Wonder Woman who is supposed to be dead. It’s a good misdirect and sets up a decent mystery but it may upset some people who may have been looking forward to the return of Wonder Woman on Earth 2. Additionally, it is well drawn.
The comic begins with Hawkgirl flying around the world in order to collect data and create a map of this new Earth. She finds a cave with obvious technological advancements and Amazonian guards who attack Hawkgirl.
This is the interesting mystery. Their Earth was destroyed so they had to find a planet post-Convergence; it’s unclear how there are Amazons that have obviously been living in this cave for a while. Also, Wonder Woman was supposedly the last of the Amazons and she was killed. It’s intriguing to say the least.
The comic then moves to a meeting of superheroes. There, Superman brings up the point that people do not trust superheroes. The war that destroyed the old Earth was a battle between beings with super powers.
I am kind of tired of this idea in superhero comics. It was interesting at first but it is overdone now. Making people distrust superheroes is just an attempt to seem relevant and grounded but I think it’s unnecessary. The point of Earth 2 originally was to have a place that the golden age of superheroes could still work the way that they did originally. That’s what is fun about it. I have complained about it before but the tone of the series does not work for me. It’s too serious.
Green Lantern senses that something is wrong and leaves the meeting. Huntress, Power Girl and the Flash are fighting a giant monster and Green Lantern arrives to help them.
In New Gotham, Batman stops a deal of fusion packs that has nothing to do with the rest of the issue so it is completely pointless.
After this, we see that Green Lantern has beaten the monster. We do not get to see the battle which is weird but whatever. The heroes are discussing how the beast came to be. It is suggested that maybe the terraforming of this New Earth created him.
The issue then goes back to Hawkgirl fighting the Amazons. They nearly beat her to death before a woman stops them. Whoever this person is seems to recognize Hawkgirl and the issue ends with Hawkgirl stating that the person who saved her is Fury.
Verdict
Besides the tone, my other big complaint is that there are several different stories going on at once that don’t relate to each other. Maybe the plots will connect later but it feels a little tedious now. They could structure it differently and make it more of an anthology book instead of cutting back and forth between these different tales. It might be a little more fun. As is, the art is nice but the issue itself is dull. There’s too much going on that doesn’t connect and it’s just not any fun. I am curious about the Amazonian plot so I am hoping that the series will pick up and these stories can come together.
