Thursday, November 27, 2014

Earth 2: World's End #8 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: Daniel H. Wilson, Marguerite Bennett, Mike Johnson
Art By: Tyler Kirkham, Joe Weems, Stephen Segovia, Jason Paz, Jorge Jimenez, Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: November 26, 2014



Losing Ground


Last week in World's End we saw Huntress at the mercy of Desaad, who seemed hellbent on turning her into Darkseid's newest Fury.  Batman was taking out undead Superman clones while Apokolips was boom tubing to Earth.  It's dark times for our Earth 2 heroes and even a reunion between Alan Scott and his thought to be dead lover Sam Zhou ended with heartache when we discovered that while Sam looks like Sam, he's seems simply to be more the embodiment of The White and only concerned the duties that the job of avatar entails.  Finally after Doctor Fate got whammied by the spell he put on Famine, he sought out Jimmy Olsen and Mister Miracle's Mother Box to cure his ailment and......... well it looks like the Helm of Fate was some kind of Mother Box and it merged with Mister Miracle's and the result of it turned Jimmy Olsen into some kind of New God or something that we've never seen before.  All that and Constantine is gathering a gang in the ruins of the World Army Arkham site, so let's check out what this issue has in store for us.



Explain It!:

Our story begins with Green Lantern trying to save what's left of Earth by taking out the asteroids caused by Apokolips boom tubing into the moon.  It's kind of funny to me because even though Sam doesn't want to pick up where they left off, he's still bitching about what Alan is doing because he sees their mission to find the other avatars as more important than him playing Asteroids.  Even though Alan's trying his damnedest to take out the space debris, some get through and they're feeling it in Chicago.  Dick and Barbara Grayson with Ted Grant are fighting off the mad populace of the refugee camp, (you might remember that there's a signal being broadcast that's driving people to madness) when an asteroid comes down and we just might be without a Barbara Grayson now before it seems like we ever really had one.  Hopefully she's okay, because I was really looking forward to a heroic career from her in Earth 2.

Did Wildcat Just Punch Through That Dude?!

Down in the subbasement of the World Army Arkham site.......... which for some reason looks like a giant monster skull out of nowhere, Constantine finds the people that he believes will be able to get him back to Prime-Earth.  We're looking at Brainwave, Obsidian, Jonni Thunder and Karnevil, but as a team building exercise, Constantine shoots Karnevil to death after he makes a racist remark to Obsidian.  So........... go team Constantine?


Down in the clone labyrinth of Desaad, Batman, Val-Zod, Red Tornado and Power Girl face grim news as they find the actual Superman shield hung up like a trophy and the tracker that Batman put on Huntress says that her vitals have flat lined.  Really did you expect good news to come from deep within a fire pit?  So now that we've got that going on let's check in on Sam and Grundy's quest to find the other avatars............. and it's fucked.  While they were searching, the Furies of Darkseid put a axe in Grundy and ripped him in half and Sam is now at their mercy as he calls Alan for help.  Hopefully Alan gets there in time and his heroics remind Sam about who he was and why they loved each other.  We're rooting for you Alan.

Finally, we look at Flash and Hawkgirl feeling like their old selves now that Doctor Fate went and had sexy time with a Mother Box........ I don't think that will ever get old to me.  Instead of meeting back up with Khalid to find out what's going down, Flash decides he needs to go and find his mother and completely abandons Hawkgirl, which normally wouldn't be that bad, but as soon as she turns around we see that she's surrounded by crazy white people yelling "Kill".  These just might be people affected by the signal, or they could be zombies created by Death, I like it being the latter because who doesn't love a good zombie horde?  So Flash speeds away and actually finds his mother, but before all the good feelings could be had, we see that whatever has been affecting people is now affecting Hawkgirl as she flies up on Flash and his mother yelling "Kill".  I'm never going to see these heroes just being heroes in a normal world am I?


That's it for this week's World's End and while I was skeptical that this series would keep my attention...... you know since it's not what I wanted with all the heroes being heroes in a normal world, I guess I have to eat my words again because I'm having a great time visiting this world in it's darkest days.  Yeah, it can be a little depressing with everyone fighting for their lives all the time and seriously coming up short in the hope department, but the writers are giving me an action packed story featuring some of my favorite characters, so how much can I actually bitch?  Things continue to go on and while it's more of the same with battles and peril, it's still entertaining and the art portraying it has been consistently great for a long time now......... Well a long time for something that's only eight issues in.  Come back next week as we continue our trip to Earth 2 and see what kind of shit our heroes can step in next.

Bits and Pieces:

It's the end of Earth 2 and while that might seem like a depressing story to be following, I'm surprised at how much I've enjoyed it.  It's been a series that's taking it's time to reveal what's going down, but since it's weekly it really hasn't hindered the story at all.  It's fun and the prospects of things to come are exciting as hell with great art wrapped around it, so there's really no reason that you shouldn't be reading about your favorite heroes of Earth 2.  So since you've got some extra time on your hands thanks to the holiday weekend, go out and pick yourself up some Earth 2: World's End and see how hard it is to be a hero on a dying world.

7.3/10

7 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. I think the writers saw your earth 2 character list. First wildcat, then hints at doctor midnite, and now jonni thunder

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    1. Ha ha, the best part was they actually explained Batman's EMP in this issue. I actually had to stop and laugh

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  3. Most of the art is good, not great, nowhere close to Earth 2 before the artist change. But whoever is drawing the parts with the Graysons needs to be fired immediately.

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  4. There's definitely art here that's weaker than others, but I don't find it as glaringly obvious like I did when the series first began. The strong artwork over shadows the bad and it's not really a hindrance to me reading it. I would like the book to actually tell me who does what though, because I'd like to maybe pick up on a style and be able to match it to a name. Oh well.

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  5. I don't know if I am being an asshole, but what's up with this book telling to go check out other series. Its a weekly series that unfortunately is not big enough to tell the whole story, which they were doing fine with one series. I mean I was holding off buying Constantine but that now that seems like the most interesting part and now they are already taking it away from the series. Those captions might as well be saying " Oh you like that part well go fuck yourself cause it won't be there next week".

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  6. That's the biggest problem with series like this and Futures End. They tell an interesting story and then move on to a bunch of other things that aren't really as cool....... It's hard to maintain enthusiasm when you only get a page or two a week from your favorite aspect to the story. But as far as Constantine goes, you really should pick up the last issue because even though it's a Earth 2, Earth 2: World's End tie-in, it was one of the best issues of Constantine that I've read.

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