[Editor’s note: This review may contain spoilers.]
Writer: Dan Abnett
Pencils: Bruno Redondo
Inks: Juan Albarran
Summary
Fury has opened Pandora’s Box in a last ditch effort to stop Ultra-Humanite once and for all! The plan to stop him works — or has it? Now the wonders of Earth 2 are trapped inside Pandora’s Box in a ghostly shell of what seems to be Metropolis! As the heroes search for answers they soon find themselves hunted by multiple versions of The Sandman!
Positives
Abnett has given us a great read with this latest issue of Earth 2: Society. Here we see the immediate consequences of where the last issue left us off with Fury and the wonders attempting to stop Ultra-Humanite from taking control of Pandora’s Box and remaking Earth 2 in his image! Fury takes control of Pandora’s Box and attempts to remake Earth 2 herself before Ultra-Humanite can! The plan seems to be successful until the wonders all wake up disoriented and separated from each other. As the heroes attempt to figure out what’s going on, it’s Fury who immediately jumps to the heartbreaking conclusion that she’s just destroyed Earth 2 using the box and the ghostly world that they’re standing in is what remains of Earth 2! Redondo does a wonderful job of giving us a breaking scene that shows how remorseful Fury is, how confused the Flash is, and how angry Supergirl is for Fury’s admission of guilt. The next few pages will take you on an emotional roller coaster as the heroes attempt to determine if Earth 2 is really destroyed — and if so, what happens to them?
Negatives
I really have no negatives in this issue besides wanting to know what happened with Ultra-Humanite during the battle. It seems that when Fury opened Pandora’s Box everything was wiped away, including Ultra-Humanite! However, I know that killing a villain such as him isn’t that simple and I’m sure that he’s probably trapped in Pandora’s Box as well. I was never a fan of Ultra-Humanite in particular until reading these last few issues. I always saw him as a simple counterpart to Gorilla Grodd almost, however Abnett has changed my mind about him in this series. He’s definitely a force to be reckoned with and I think he might even be more powerful than Grodd — and Grodd is one of my favorite super-villains!
Verdict
Earth 2 #17 is a great read! I’d recommend reading the previous issues as well to prevent getting confused about the story. However, if you’re interested in seeing how good the Earth 2 heroes are in combat, then this a good book to read! Each page is full of action, along with a great story as well! Each time I turned a page I kept hoping it wasn’t gonna be the last one! I’m really looking forward to finding out if Ultra-Humanite is still alive and inside of Pandora’s Box. If he is, I’m sure there will be hell to pay to the heroes, especially Fury!