Earth 2: James Robinson, Tomas Giorello, Nathan Eyring, Dezi Sienty, Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Rod Reis

Another issue I fell asleep reading. Granted, it was late and I’d been doing a lot of these that day. But, if the issue were exciting enough then it should’ve kept my interest, right? I think the main reason I was disappointed in this issue was because I knew I had to call it quits for the night soon, so I told myself, “one more issue, Dave.” I sat there, looking at all the #0s I had bought, really thinking about the one to which I would dedicate. I picked Earth 2 because I normally like this book…but it turned out to be almost nothing like the previous issues.

This ish does actually build upon the community of superheroes in this dimension, as well as show us a bit of the world, as it were. It also shows us more of Terry Sloan, the man who assaulted our dimension’s Mr. Terrific when he arrived. In fact, this issue is ABOUT Terry Sloan and what he’s done.

SIX years prior to the events of issue #1 (nice job breaking away from that annoying 5 year precedent), the original 8 superheroes of the world are battling the Apokolips paradaemons for the Earth. We are told who they are: Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Catwoman, Huntress, Supergirl, Mr. 8 (Terry), and a yet unnamed hero. We’re given some contrived reason as to why we cannot know the identity of the other hero: “for reasons that all who know this world and this war will understand.”

Well…we readers DON’T know this world or war. So how about you tell us?

That’s just writer bullcrap that means they have a big ol’ surprise in store for us and don’t want it known quite yet. And I say no. Don’t even bring it up. Why start something you know you cannot finish?

And then, there’s Terry himself. He’s…well he’s super annoying. I think that’s his special power. He talks in such a way that just gets under my skin. It reminds me of how I used to write back when I thought I was good.

Anyway, Terry had used tech to visit the other planes of the multiverse and saw futures that drove him mad, basically. So he attacked his teammates and blew up some cities. It’s actually an interesting image we see at the end, of the Earth and the explosions. Gee, remind you of anywhere in particular? A certain war-driven planet, maybe?

The art I’m kinda not a fan of. There are certain parts that look really, really cool…like Terry’s teleportation room near the beginning of the comic, the monsters the heroes fight on the same page, and of course the images of the explosions. But the people themselves are kind of weird, like blocky and with deep facial lines that make them look like they were carved from wood.

Earth 2 #0, the verdict: So I was hoping for something a little more epic here, something that fit with the current Earth 2 issues. What I got instead…well, it felt like a lesson. Like I was sitting in class for a history lesson or something. And it was boring. At least we were given a reason for Superman attacking Wonder Woman. But Terry’s motivations feel really flat. They feel like they came into existence just because he needed to be the villain. I am glad that it’s not a personal thing, though. Like a vendetta against the heroes. That’s definitely refreshing. I was just hoping for something better.

(Photo Source: iFanBoy)