Reviews: Earth-2 Vol.1: The Gathering

     One of the hardest things to do when writing a comic book is introducing readers to a new series full of new characters, as well as establishing a good story to go along with them. James Robinson was able to accomplish both in the New 52’s Earth-2. Robinson has been given an entire world to tell stories. Its not just about one hero; not even about one team of heroes, but an entire, alternate universe full of infinitely new characters, and Volume One introduces us to the first alternate universe of the New 52.

     Volume One, titled: “The Gathering” focuses on the joining of the Justice Society of America, by introducing us to revised take on their classic members. The Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl and the Atom take center stage and are immediately appealing. While they have the same names as their Golden Age counterparts, they have been updated with relevant and modern characteristics that current readers can associate themselves with. Robinson has taken the, almost forgotten, JSA and updated almost everything about them from their backgrounds to their costumes and applied them to a new world.

      I think that creating this comic series was one of the best things that DC could have done. The idea of reading about stories set in an alternate universe, stories that effect alternate versions of our favorite characters is very cool, making me wonder if they may eventually release more series about more alternate Earths.

Volume One begins with the death of Earth-2’s Superman, Batman and Wonderwoman and the destruction of almost half the planet. While Darkseid attempted to invade Earth in Geoff John’s Justice League, he succeeds in Earth-2, jumping us ahead in the future to see the formation of the new “Wonders”. Solomon Grundy acts as the catalyst to force the heroes to unite, which leads to a very climatic battle between Grundy (the grey) and Green Lantern.

       Not only is the book written well, but Trevor and Nicola Scott’s artwork is one of the best I’ve seen. The color work may be the finest in the New 52, which all accumulates to the overall beauty of the book.

     I look forward to seeing future installments of this alternate Earth, as well as the next alternate characters Robinson will introduce. Overall, based on what I’ve read in Volume One, Earth-2 shows much promise and appears to only get increasingly intriguing by each issue.

I give this volume:

8.8 / 10

Be sure to check out more reviews upon more volumes’ releases.

Reviews: Justice League Vol.2: The Villain's Journey

Innovatively written by Geoff Johns (Green Lantern, Flashpoint) and beautifully illustrated by Jim Lee (Batman: Hush, Uncanny X-Men).

Spoilers follow.

    While volume one detailed the conventional gathering of DC’s heroes, the second volume jumps ahead five years, giving us our first look at the Justice League of today; a team that can, relatively, work well together. More importantly, the story arc focuses on the development of a new villain named David Graves, whose powers are indefinable as it is not quite expressed what his limits are.

     No matter how powerful Graves appeared to be, following a villain like Darkseid, whose arrival and war on Earth dominated the issues of volume one, was a challenge for Graves to surpass.

    Graves’ “journey” into becoming a villain was a difficult one and I was in a bit of distaste upon reading the first couple issues, but I will admit that the villain was developed quite well over time. I understand what Johns was trying to do by focusing on the villain and his emotional, human-side and back-story, but in today’s comics it’s hard to introduce a new, major adversary and make him as successful as the classics.

    

Review: Amazing Spider-Man #699

Full spoilers of issue follow…

Not great. Not bad. Just average, but necessary nonetheless. #698 left us with one of the greatest cliffhangers in recent Spidey memory: Spiderman reveals himself as Dr. Octopus, controller of Peter Parker’s body, while the real mind of Peter lies in the dying body of Doc Ock. I had big expectations for this issue, but maybe I expected too much. I imagined them going farther with the story then they did, so they must be saving all the good stuff for #700. As usual, Humberto Ramos provided excellent, animated artwork, especially the close-up shots of Dr. Octopus, which were very detailed. Writer Dan Slott did good too, but not quite “amazing”.

I don’t blame Slott himself, in fact, the story that he has created and the finale he is leading up to has been, and is sure to be, nothing short of spectacular. My biggest concern with this issue is that it was basically an “in-between” issue; a filler story that briefly gave us some insight on the secret of how Dr. Octopus switched their minds, as well as how Peter planned his escape with the help of some of his old foes. As I said, Slott didn’t do anything poorly, his only crime was holding off on the most important aspects of the story arc until the climax next issue.

There wasn’t much Slott could do dramatically with his title character lying motionless in a life support machine, barely able to speak, but he was able to come through some pretty decent content. As we all know, Spiderman is famous for having great thought-bubbles and narration, which was proven here. Peter imagining all the horrible things Doc Ock is doing in his body, as Spiderman and as Peter Parker, combined with Peter’s new ability to tap into Ock’s hidden memories added some good panels, giving Ramos opportunities to draw character sand situations other then a dying Ock.

Overall, this story was a great filler issue that took us another step closer to the big #700, which, as I stated earlier, should contain all the great action, storytelling and artwork that we’ve been waiting 699 issues to see. I give this issue:

7.5 / 10

The Amazing Spiderman #700 hits the stands December 26th.

See you then, true believers!