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Earth 2
Earth 2, Vol. 2: The Tower of Fate
The World Army has begun rounding up the Super Heroes of Earth 2, but for what dark purpose? In an attempt to avoid capture, Dr. Fate and Kid Flash find themselves in the powerful magical realm of Nabu, and Wotan, the protector of Nabu, seeks Dr. Fate’s assistance in obtaining a secret locked deep within a tower...
158 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 2013
About the author
James Robinson
1,243 books230 followersJames Dale Robinson is a British writer of American comic books and screenplays.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 115 reviews
June 5, 2022
Reread 2015
I still really liked this one, so I'm letting my rating stand. I will say that in the coming volumes these characters fell by the wayside a bit.
Which sucks. I liked the Earth 2's Dr. Fate, Hawkgirl, Flash, & Green Lantern. I mean, they don't disappear, but other characters kind of take over the storyline.
Still. I think Tower of Fate does a good job with these guys.
The majority of this one focuses on Dr. Fate (Khalid) and Flash (Jay).
Khalid needs to step up to the plate (according to Hawkgirl), while Jay is already a self-sacrificing good guy. Their personalities play off of each other pretty well, and you end up liking them both quite a bit. Of course, there's a big showdown with one of the helmet's original enemies, and a nice bit of magic gets thrown around. Purdy!
At the same time, the World Army has (knowingly) let a traitor into their midst, in the hopes of defeating their enemies.
Dum. Dum Duuuum.
Terry Sloan is also shown as being the reason that our Michael Holt ends up on Earth 2.
Then again, who's really gonna miss him?
He does it by tricking him into thinking his (unborn/dead) son has come to visit him from an alternate future, and convincing him to become Mr. Terrific. Or something confusing like that...
Green Lantern finds out that not everything is what he thought when Hawkgirl makes a shocking discovery about the train wreck that killed his fiancee.
Before he can learn more, however, he's called on to help keep the Army off of Dr. Fate while he takes care of the magical baddie, Wotan.
Plus, we get a peek at Wonder Woman's daughter (Fury), who has been raised by Steppenwolf to be his badass enforcer. I can't remember, but I believe he killed Wonder Woman...and maybe Fury is his daughter, too?
Anyone? Anyone?
*sigh*
I need to do a reread of all of these, I think.
Anyhoo. Earth 2 is a pretty interesting look at an alternate world for the heroes that we think we know so well, and I enjoyed it.
I still really liked this one, so I'm letting my rating stand. I will say that in the coming volumes these characters fell by the wayside a bit.
Which sucks. I liked the Earth 2's Dr. Fate, Hawkgirl, Flash, & Green Lantern. I mean, they don't disappear, but other characters kind of take over the storyline.
Still. I think Tower of Fate does a good job with these guys.
The majority of this one focuses on Dr. Fate (Khalid) and Flash (Jay).
Khalid needs to step up to the plate (according to Hawkgirl), while Jay is already a self-sacrificing good guy. Their personalities play off of each other pretty well, and you end up liking them both quite a bit. Of course, there's a big showdown with one of the helmet's original enemies, and a nice bit of magic gets thrown around. Purdy!
At the same time, the World Army has (knowingly) let a traitor into their midst, in the hopes of defeating their enemies.
Dum. Dum Duuuum.
Terry Sloan is also shown as being the reason that our Michael Holt ends up on Earth 2.
Then again, who's really gonna miss him?
He does it by tricking him into thinking his (unborn/dead) son has come to visit him from an alternate future, and convincing him to become Mr. Terrific. Or something confusing like that...
Green Lantern finds out that not everything is what he thought when Hawkgirl makes a shocking discovery about the train wreck that killed his fiancee.
Before he can learn more, however, he's called on to help keep the Army off of Dr. Fate while he takes care of the magical baddie, Wotan.
Plus, we get a peek at Wonder Woman's daughter (Fury), who has been raised by Steppenwolf to be his badass enforcer. I can't remember, but I believe he killed Wonder Woman...and maybe Fury is his daughter, too?
Anyone? Anyone?
*sigh*
I need to do a reread of all of these, I think.
Anyhoo. Earth 2 is a pretty interesting look at an alternate world for the heroes that we think we know so well, and I enjoyed it.
August 20, 2014
The team is taken form but still uncertain who will lead...
I got this on its single issues, but I will do the review on its TPB option to be able to do a better overall review about the whole story arc.
In this TPB is included the issue #0 that DC Comics published after several issues in a month event where each active title published a #0 issue telling some unknown events ocurred "before" of how each title began. Here, you get a wider view of the events when the "Wonders": Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman along with Supergirl and Robin (Helena Wayne) were fighting against Steppenwolf and the invasion of Apokolips to "Earth 2".
On the events of the regular issues of the title...
After saving the world during an epic fight against Solomon Grundy in the middle of the city of Washington D.C., the public is wondering who can be these "new wonders" with amazing powers and that it seems that they are here (on Earth-2) to protect humanity.
Due the victory of Green Lantern (Alan Scott), champion of The Green, over Solomon Grundy, champion of The Grey, now the Earth-2 is "healing" itself for many of the ecological disasters, around the whole world, five years ago, during the confrontation with the Apokolips' forces.
While Hawkgirl (Kendra Muñoz-Saunders) left the World Army to join the "new wonders", in the case of The Atom (Capt. Al Pratt), he decides to remain as a special operative of the World Army. And now enter "The Sandmen", a secret team of specials ops' soldiers lead by Colonel Wesley Dodds.
The Flash (Jay Garrick) goes to check on his mother, but the World Army is aware of his real identity due being careless and lost his cell phone in the middle of the last battle.
And a new player got in the game, Khalid Ben-Hassin, who is an acquaintance of Hawkgirl, of her days as a regular arqueologist/tomb robber, just before of the dramatic change on her physiology with the addition of the wings. And while Khalid isn't suffering the social inconveniences of a pair of wings, he may be too much "crowded" inside his head.
Steppenwolf, main lieutenant of Darkseid during the invasion on Earth-2, is still alive and he is seeking the ways to finish what he started... conquest the world. And he has now a very powerful right hand with a shocking origin.
A new villain appears known as Wotan and he/she doesn't hesitate to use Jay's mom to force The Flash and Khalid to get what he/she has been looking for hundred of years.
Earth 2 isn't an easy title to write since the creative has to develop a lot of stories and sub-stories and all in one single title, since it's not like the titles happening on the dimension of "Earth Prime" that while there is "Justice League" title, there are also single titles for almost any big member of the team and even other titles where some stuff can be develop. On Earth 2, anything has to be detailed in one monthly title. Still, I think that expend almost four issues of this arc to introduce the new member of the team is just too much.
Now, you get to see that the team is finally taken form, making compromises between each other, beneficial alliances, however is also clear that they are lacking of a leader. Some would speculate that The Flash will be the leader due legacy of the comic books' history, but this is the "New 52" and anything can happens, so I still am not sure who will lead this team, but I know that they need to define it soon, since a powerful body without a head is useless and prone to be easily defeated.
However, the title is doing well so far, with great potential.
I got this on its single issues, but I will do the review on its TPB option to be able to do a better overall review about the whole story arc.
In this TPB is included the issue #0 that DC Comics published after several issues in a month event where each active title published a #0 issue telling some unknown events ocurred "before" of how each title began. Here, you get a wider view of the events when the "Wonders": Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman along with Supergirl and Robin (Helena Wayne) were fighting against Steppenwolf and the invasion of Apokolips to "Earth 2".
On the events of the regular issues of the title...
After saving the world during an epic fight against Solomon Grundy in the middle of the city of Washington D.C., the public is wondering who can be these "new wonders" with amazing powers and that it seems that they are here (on Earth-2) to protect humanity.
Due the victory of Green Lantern (Alan Scott), champion of The Green, over Solomon Grundy, champion of The Grey, now the Earth-2 is "healing" itself for many of the ecological disasters, around the whole world, five years ago, during the confrontation with the Apokolips' forces.
While Hawkgirl (Kendra Muñoz-Saunders) left the World Army to join the "new wonders", in the case of The Atom (Capt. Al Pratt), he decides to remain as a special operative of the World Army. And now enter "The Sandmen", a secret team of specials ops' soldiers lead by Colonel Wesley Dodds.
The Flash (Jay Garrick) goes to check on his mother, but the World Army is aware of his real identity due being careless and lost his cell phone in the middle of the last battle.
And a new player got in the game, Khalid Ben-Hassin, who is an acquaintance of Hawkgirl, of her days as a regular arqueologist/tomb robber, just before of the dramatic change on her physiology with the addition of the wings. And while Khalid isn't suffering the social inconveniences of a pair of wings, he may be too much "crowded" inside his head.
Steppenwolf, main lieutenant of Darkseid during the invasion on Earth-2, is still alive and he is seeking the ways to finish what he started... conquest the world. And he has now a very powerful right hand with a shocking origin.
A new villain appears known as Wotan and he/she doesn't hesitate to use Jay's mom to force The Flash and Khalid to get what he/she has been looking for hundred of years.
Earth 2 isn't an easy title to write since the creative has to develop a lot of stories and sub-stories and all in one single title, since it's not like the titles happening on the dimension of "Earth Prime" that while there is "Justice League" title, there are also single titles for almost any big member of the team and even other titles where some stuff can be develop. On Earth 2, anything has to be detailed in one monthly title. Still, I think that expend almost four issues of this arc to introduce the new member of the team is just too much.
Now, you get to see that the team is finally taken form, making compromises between each other, beneficial alliances, however is also clear that they are lacking of a leader. Some would speculate that The Flash will be the leader due legacy of the comic books' history, but this is the "New 52" and anything can happens, so I still am not sure who will lead this team, but I know that they need to define it soon, since a powerful body without a head is useless and prone to be easily defeated.
However, the title is doing well so far, with great potential.
October 4, 2015
Originally reviewed at Bookwraiths Reviews
Much better story than volume one, in my opinion. Lots of interesting and mysterious stories going on everywhere you look. Several diabolical bad guys; some purely evil, some who might not be. Our good guys are not just fighting, but dealing with personal issues as well as attempting to learn to be heroes. And we have the introduction of one of my personal favorites: Doctor Fate — a character that never gets enough love.
Equally important to this story is our returning cast: Green Lantern, Flash, and Hawkgirl. Green Lantern uncovering some information about the train crash that killed his partner, which suggests there is going to be some major crap coming down the pipeline. Flash is teamed up with Doctor Fate most of this story line, and I have to say he has really grown on me until he is my favorite character right now. And Hawkgirl is flying around in the mix, not center spotlight but always nearby (though I hope the next volume might make her more of a focus.)
As for foreshadowing of future problems, I really thought the Terry Sloan angle was interesting; this guy being revealed as possibly a force of evil hidden at the center of the U.N. security forces. His motives and desires for the future murky at best, but damn interesting.
What really shocks and awes in this volume is the introduction of a surprise character into the mix: Fury. Promising to really make a splash in the coming issues; this badass villain looks to kick some serious ass for her “foster father” Steppenwolf, the Apokoliptian General hiding somewhere on Earth-2 waiting to unleash hell upon its inhabitants once again.
As for the artwork, it is above average. Great fight scenes; good storytelling technique; cool shifts between panels, splash pages, and mixed. Really a huge reason I enjoyed this collection so much.
After Earth-2: The Gathering disappointed me a bit, this one did the opposite: encouraged me to continue with this series. I’ve always loved Earth-2 tales; they were some of my favorites when I was a kid in the 1970s; and perhaps they can be again.
Much better story than volume one, in my opinion. Lots of interesting and mysterious stories going on everywhere you look. Several diabolical bad guys; some purely evil, some who might not be. Our good guys are not just fighting, but dealing with personal issues as well as attempting to learn to be heroes. And we have the introduction of one of my personal favorites: Doctor Fate — a character that never gets enough love.
Equally important to this story is our returning cast: Green Lantern, Flash, and Hawkgirl. Green Lantern uncovering some information about the train crash that killed his partner, which suggests there is going to be some major crap coming down the pipeline. Flash is teamed up with Doctor Fate most of this story line, and I have to say he has really grown on me until he is my favorite character right now. And Hawkgirl is flying around in the mix, not center spotlight but always nearby (though I hope the next volume might make her more of a focus.)
As for foreshadowing of future problems, I really thought the Terry Sloan angle was interesting; this guy being revealed as possibly a force of evil hidden at the center of the U.N. security forces. His motives and desires for the future murky at best, but damn interesting.
What really shocks and awes in this volume is the introduction of a surprise character into the mix: Fury. Promising to really make a splash in the coming issues; this badass villain looks to kick some serious ass for her “foster father” Steppenwolf, the Apokoliptian General hiding somewhere on Earth-2 waiting to unleash hell upon its inhabitants once again.
As for the artwork, it is above average. Great fight scenes; good storytelling technique; cool shifts between panels, splash pages, and mixed. Really a huge reason I enjoyed this collection so much.
After Earth-2: The Gathering disappointed me a bit, this one did the opposite: encouraged me to continue with this series. I’ve always loved Earth-2 tales; they were some of my favorites when I was a kid in the 1970s; and perhaps they can be again.
June 21, 2015
Still doing pretty good. I don't feel any more attached to the cast than I did in the previous volume, but at least Jay doesn't act like a stalker in this volume. I was more interested in the addition of Fury (Wonder Woman's daughter) than in Doctor Strange, sadly. Also looking forward to the proper introduction of Mister Miracle and Big Barda. Does this mean that they won't really be playing much of a role in the main DC universe?
January 19, 2024
Dystopian progress
This volume has held my interest despite the loss of popular characters in the early volume.
After the ancient have fallen the new heroes are rising and we meet a few of them including centrally Flash, Green Lantern, Hawk girl and a weak looking Dr Fate.
Earth 2 is interesting and the mix with the World army creates some intrigue.
This is partly a search to solve the mystery of a train wreck and partly creating the world with old and new foes.
Steppenwolf is there, Fury, Wonder Woman's daughter is his underling and Wotan gets a star act as the foe and we have ancient Egyptian history as a side dish.
Green Lantern, Hawkgirl and Flash take the story forward with a side act by Flash' mom.
Worth continuing with the series.
This volume has held my interest despite the loss of popular characters in the early volume.
After the ancient have fallen the new heroes are rising and we meet a few of them including centrally Flash, Green Lantern, Hawk girl and a weak looking Dr Fate.
Earth 2 is interesting and the mix with the World army creates some intrigue.
This is partly a search to solve the mystery of a train wreck and partly creating the world with old and new foes.
Steppenwolf is there, Fury, Wonder Woman's daughter is his underling and Wotan gets a star act as the foe and we have ancient Egyptian history as a side dish.
Green Lantern, Hawkgirl and Flash take the story forward with a side act by Flash' mom.
Worth continuing with the series.
July 21, 2018
The 2nd volume of the Earth 2 series continues just as strongly as the original volume. We get to see more background on the major players in the story.
We are granted a look into the motivations of the Lex-Luthor like Terry Sloan. This issue also introduces us to the origin stories for Mr Terrific, Hawkwoman and Dr. Fate.
Steppenwolf and the surviving parademons have taken over a small country. The World Army wants the Unaffiliated wonders to join them. A powerful and ancient magus named Wotan seeks to capture the power of Dr. Fate's tower. Those are the basis for the conflicts in this volume, but more than that I shall not say.
This series is one of the better rebooted series. The characters are interesting and the artwork is excellent. The stories work because they are building a new world. Not changing established lore as is often the case with the traditional D.C. series. Thus the different dimension helps to make the "changes" more subtle and not as annoying.
Overall this was a pleasant follow up to the first volume. Considering the often putrid quality of the story and art of the various reboots- I find Earth 2 to be a refreshingly good story, backed with good art. That's all I am looking for in my comics.
We are granted a look into the motivations of the Lex-Luthor like Terry Sloan. This issue also introduces us to the origin stories for Mr Terrific, Hawkwoman and Dr. Fate.
Steppenwolf and the surviving parademons have taken over a small country. The World Army wants the Unaffiliated wonders to join them. A powerful and ancient magus named Wotan seeks to capture the power of Dr. Fate's tower. Those are the basis for the conflicts in this volume, but more than that I shall not say.
This series is one of the better rebooted series. The characters are interesting and the artwork is excellent. The stories work because they are building a new world. Not changing established lore as is often the case with the traditional D.C. series. Thus the different dimension helps to make the "changes" more subtle and not as annoying.
Overall this was a pleasant follow up to the first volume. Considering the often putrid quality of the story and art of the various reboots- I find Earth 2 to be a refreshingly good story, backed with good art. That's all I am looking for in my comics.
January 30, 2015
A direct continuation of Earth 2, Vol. 1: The Gathering, this one picks up where the first left off. It also introduces Doctor Fate and Wotan, the next villain to show up on the scene. There's also a cameo of Mister Fantastic, which is likely setting up the next story arc. There's also a surprise sidekick for Steppenwolf...
June 9, 2015
Entertaining but odd title. Hasn't come close to engaging me yet but has it's moments.
April 8, 2017
Magic. I hate magic. ..stories.
May 11, 2020
There's more politics in this volume and way too much text. Also too much focus on fantasy and magic that I always thought were a bad fit for superhero comics. I barely remember who the heroes are any more. The story was pretty PG-13 in the first volume. Now it leans toward kindergarteners with gorgeous artwork, but crappy plot. The story's only purpose it to bring Dr. Fate into the mix.
The heroes have gone to ground after their recent victory. The World Council is moving ahead right on track. A high-ranking member, Khan, is secretly working with Wesley and his Sandmen to prevent Terry Sloan from anything nefarious. The power in the kingdom of Dherain changes power when Steppenwolf and Fury, Wonder Woman's daughter who was raised by Steppen, defeat king Marov. All of this is put on hold for the most boring magical battle I've seen in a long time. It looks good, but looking good with no story only works for Image Comics and even they at least try.
Flash and a guy named Khalid, Hawkgirl's friend who has a communion with the spirit of Nabu, are forced by Karel Wotan into retreiving Nabu's helmet where his power resides.
The heroes have gone to ground after their recent victory. The World Council is moving ahead right on track. A high-ranking member, Khan, is secretly working with Wesley and his Sandmen to prevent Terry Sloan from anything nefarious. The power in the kingdom of Dherain changes power when Steppenwolf and Fury, Wonder Woman's daughter who was raised by Steppen, defeat king Marov. All of this is put on hold for the most boring magical battle I've seen in a long time. It looks good, but looking good with no story only works for Image Comics and even they at least try.
Flash and a guy named Khalid, Hawkgirl's friend who has a communion with the spirit of Nabu, are forced by Karel Wotan into retreiving Nabu's helmet where his power resides.
November 20, 2014
Strictly B-team, in both lineup and story.
December 3, 2018
DC's "New 52", Second Wave (I believe). In the New 52 continuity, Earth 2 was the home of a Justice League years earlier than whatever-designation-Earth for the main universe. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman were lost in the last days of an occupation of Earth by Darkseid, while Supergirl and Robin were transported to the main universe as well. Now, new "Wonders" are appearing -- a young Jay Garrick Flash, Hawkgirl, The Atom, a young OG Green Lantern.
And now, they are joined by Doctor Fate.
Gorgeous art and good writing, with a few reservations. Some overly wordy monologuing, some inconsistent art between issues for GL (but, man o man, Fate's Tower got itself a seriously goth upgrade).
And now, they are joined by Doctor Fate.
Gorgeous art and good writing, with a few reservations. Some overly wordy monologuing, some inconsistent art between issues for GL (but, man o man, Fate's Tower got itself a seriously goth upgrade).
June 17, 2014
There's a lot to like about this reinvention of the JSA, but it's unfortunately decompressed within an inch of its life. This is made worse by the couple of issues at the start that look into other characters; usually I'd love that sort of thing, but here that drag any already slow story to an absolute halt.
Overall, this book has too few characters doing too few things and taking way too long to do it. Even though the scripting and characterization are technically good, the result is a bit dull.
Overall, this book has too few characters doing too few things and taking way too long to do it. Even though the scripting and characterization are technically good, the result is a bit dull.
May 30, 2018
Earth 2 quickly went downhill after the first volume. Hawkgirl is revealed to be a treasure hunter who got her wings while digging in a pyramid, she teamed up with Green Lantern to uncover why they are getting their powers. Green Lantern went back to China to find out why his dead lover was killed, The Flash uncovered an old feud between good and evil while escaping from the clutches of the World Army (an EU like organisation), at the same time awakened Doctor Fate. In other plots, Steppenwolf took over a nation with the help of a brainwashed Fury; Big Barda, Mister Miracle and Mister Terrific appeared for unknown reasons.
It's such a disjointed volume, there were too many plots which I am sure would come together in the future but it was pointless to introduce them in such a broken, fragmented way. The "news report" at the end of each volume were simply atrocious. I hope they will revamp the format next volume.
It's such a disjointed volume, there were too many plots which I am sure would come together in the future but it was pointless to introduce them in such a broken, fragmented way. The "news report" at the end of each volume were simply atrocious. I hope they will revamp the format next volume.
August 8, 2017
A little sophomore-syndrome here, plus it doesn't help that the villainous Wotan was infinitely more interesting than the new Dr Fate (Khalid Whatsisname). Also, Jay Garrick's Mom is just...Mom-ing it up? Still has my interest, though, so Vol. 3 here I come someday soon.
October 16, 2013
Disclaimer: I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it.
Some background first, for our younger readers. Back in the 1940s, National Comics (which would become DC) decided to promote some of their lesser-known characters by putting them in a group, the Justice Society of America. These characters would have a meeting, split up into separate stories, then band together at the end to face a common menace. This was the first full-fledged superhero team. Eventually, as page counts lessened, the team started working together through the entire story. And when the superhero fad faded, the comic book they were in switched to Western tales.
Superheroes came back in a big way after the Comics Code was created, and DC created new versions of many of their Golden Age characters. Then a writer got the bright idea of teaming up the then current Flash, Barry Allen, with his Golden Age counterpart, Jay Garrick. He came up with the notion that the earlier stories had happened on an alternate Earth, Earth-2. This allowed the Justice Society and all the other Golden Age characters to be used as having aged semi-realistically from the 1940s to the 1960s. Various series featured the Earth-2 characters having their own adventures. Plus, many other alternate Earths were made up to feature different characters.
In the 1980s, DC’s Powers that Were decided they wanted to “modernize” some of their characters, and streamline the DC Multiverse into one semi-consistent DC Universe, as some writers found the multiple Earths idea “too confusing.” So Crisis on Infinite Earths happened, and now there was just one Earth, with many of the Golden Age characters having fought crime in the 1940s, and others having their history changed to match the new timeline.
And that worked for a while. It took some doing for the Justice Society to find its feet, with several attempts at sidelining them, and drastic roster changes. But they endured, and finally got a popular, relatively long lasting series. However, going into the Twenty-First Century, it was getting increasingly difficult to justify people in their eighties and nineties still actively fighting crime without invoking immortality. You could fudge ages on some characters, but the Justice Society was specifically tied to World War Two.
This, and other issues including the desire to “modernize” characters again, caused the Powers that Be at DC to reboot their line once again in the Flashpoint event. Now superheroes as such had mostly started their careers “five years ago” and were young and “relevant” again. Most of the Golden Age characters had vanished entirely in the New 52, but others hadn’t. Eventually, this was explained with the publication of the new Earth 2 series.
DC has gone back to multiple Earths, and is using this series to depict a timeline where the Golden Age characters are reimagined for a new generation. This Earth was invaded by the forces of Darkseid, and drove them off at the cost of the death, disappearance or disgrace of all their existing heroes. Some years later, new “wonders” are appearing or being revealed as new threats emerge. This volume covers issues 7-12, and a couple of specials that fill in details.
Modern decompressed storytelling means that you don’t get your team together in the first issue and go from there. Indeed, by the sixth issue, some of our heroes had met and briefly worked together to stop a menace, but immediately split up again. The primary storyline in these issues is Flash helping the new Doctor Fate find the resolve to become that character. The primary villain they face is Wotan, who is given a new origin story (including an explanation for the green skin which explains why Wotan hates Doctor Fate’s mentor Nabu so much.)
Meanwhile, Green Lantern and Hawkgirl investigate the death of GL’s fiance, as it turns out the baddies might not have been after GL after all. This doesn’t really get far before Green Lantern is called in to help with Wotan. Elsewhere, Darkseid’s lieutenant Steppenwolf and his pawn Fury (supposed Wonder Woman’s daughter) take over a country. Minor characters have their own subplots.
Good stuff: With this reboot, DC has the freedom to make the cast more diverse from the start, and they’ve done so. After some rough patches in the early issues, most of the heroes are now acting heroic, particularly Flash. The art is decent, and the war against Darkseid’s forces stands in for World War Two nicely.
Not so good: Did we really need to kill the Amazons again? Seriously, we worry about you, DC. Also, there’s a lot of grimness and gritting teeth. I’d like to see a little more fun and people enjoying their powers and abilities. The current DC hatred of marriage also is felt here, killing off spouses and potential spouses to free up the characters for other romantic subplots (or in the case of the gay guy, avoiding that yucky actually having him date thing.)
I can see where DC is coming from, but as an old fogy myself, I miss having heroes who have been around for decades and learned wisdom the hard way.
Some background first, for our younger readers. Back in the 1940s, National Comics (which would become DC) decided to promote some of their lesser-known characters by putting them in a group, the Justice Society of America. These characters would have a meeting, split up into separate stories, then band together at the end to face a common menace. This was the first full-fledged superhero team. Eventually, as page counts lessened, the team started working together through the entire story. And when the superhero fad faded, the comic book they were in switched to Western tales.
Superheroes came back in a big way after the Comics Code was created, and DC created new versions of many of their Golden Age characters. Then a writer got the bright idea of teaming up the then current Flash, Barry Allen, with his Golden Age counterpart, Jay Garrick. He came up with the notion that the earlier stories had happened on an alternate Earth, Earth-2. This allowed the Justice Society and all the other Golden Age characters to be used as having aged semi-realistically from the 1940s to the 1960s. Various series featured the Earth-2 characters having their own adventures. Plus, many other alternate Earths were made up to feature different characters.
In the 1980s, DC’s Powers that Were decided they wanted to “modernize” some of their characters, and streamline the DC Multiverse into one semi-consistent DC Universe, as some writers found the multiple Earths idea “too confusing.” So Crisis on Infinite Earths happened, and now there was just one Earth, with many of the Golden Age characters having fought crime in the 1940s, and others having their history changed to match the new timeline.
And that worked for a while. It took some doing for the Justice Society to find its feet, with several attempts at sidelining them, and drastic roster changes. But they endured, and finally got a popular, relatively long lasting series. However, going into the Twenty-First Century, it was getting increasingly difficult to justify people in their eighties and nineties still actively fighting crime without invoking immortality. You could fudge ages on some characters, but the Justice Society was specifically tied to World War Two.
This, and other issues including the desire to “modernize” characters again, caused the Powers that Be at DC to reboot their line once again in the Flashpoint event. Now superheroes as such had mostly started their careers “five years ago” and were young and “relevant” again. Most of the Golden Age characters had vanished entirely in the New 52, but others hadn’t. Eventually, this was explained with the publication of the new Earth 2 series.
DC has gone back to multiple Earths, and is using this series to depict a timeline where the Golden Age characters are reimagined for a new generation. This Earth was invaded by the forces of Darkseid, and drove them off at the cost of the death, disappearance or disgrace of all their existing heroes. Some years later, new “wonders” are appearing or being revealed as new threats emerge. This volume covers issues 7-12, and a couple of specials that fill in details.
Modern decompressed storytelling means that you don’t get your team together in the first issue and go from there. Indeed, by the sixth issue, some of our heroes had met and briefly worked together to stop a menace, but immediately split up again. The primary storyline in these issues is Flash helping the new Doctor Fate find the resolve to become that character. The primary villain they face is Wotan, who is given a new origin story (including an explanation for the green skin which explains why Wotan hates Doctor Fate’s mentor Nabu so much.)
Meanwhile, Green Lantern and Hawkgirl investigate the death of GL’s fiance, as it turns out the baddies might not have been after GL after all. This doesn’t really get far before Green Lantern is called in to help with Wotan. Elsewhere, Darkseid’s lieutenant Steppenwolf and his pawn Fury (supposed Wonder Woman’s daughter) take over a country. Minor characters have their own subplots.
Good stuff: With this reboot, DC has the freedom to make the cast more diverse from the start, and they’ve done so. After some rough patches in the early issues, most of the heroes are now acting heroic, particularly Flash. The art is decent, and the war against Darkseid’s forces stands in for World War Two nicely.
Not so good: Did we really need to kill the Amazons again? Seriously, we worry about you, DC. Also, there’s a lot of grimness and gritting teeth. I’d like to see a little more fun and people enjoying their powers and abilities. The current DC hatred of marriage also is felt here, killing off spouses and potential spouses to free up the characters for other romantic subplots (or in the case of the gay guy, avoiding that yucky actually having him date thing.)
I can see where DC is coming from, but as an old fogy myself, I miss having heroes who have been around for decades and learned wisdom the hard way.
July 26, 2020
Lots of action in this one, but the time jumping is throwing me off. Overall, this is a pretty cool series, even though, personally, the multiverse gets annoying after a while.
May 10, 2014
There's a part of me that wanted to give this 5 stars, but I'm biased. Because of the characters in the book I'm invested in it very much, but objectively, it's not that great. The writing is actually pretty awkward and forced. No one is all that likable. The whole motivation for most of the heroes is pretty far from concrete. They all continue to vacillate between determination and selfishness and the greater good. The villains so far have been a little weak, though it's clear they are building to something much bigger down the road.
The art continues to be pretty solid. The character designs especially, for me at least, stand out as unique and interesting. I think there's a good cohesion among the various team members without them blending together like some other teams have.
I'm also still really enjoying the separate reality of this book as well as the way the characters are coming together. There's a lot of history that needs to be established through just this one title. On one hand, it's fun to see the alternate reality unfolding, but on the other hand it gets a little old seeing the big 3 in mildly different variations over and over. I'm much more excited for characters like Red Tornado and Big Barda get some screen time instead of more Superman and Batman.
In all, though, this was a fun read and I know there's a lot to look forward to with this book. I can't wait for the next volume to come out.
The art continues to be pretty solid. The character designs especially, for me at least, stand out as unique and interesting. I think there's a good cohesion among the various team members without them blending together like some other teams have.
I'm also still really enjoying the separate reality of this book as well as the way the characters are coming together. There's a lot of history that needs to be established through just this one title. On one hand, it's fun to see the alternate reality unfolding, but on the other hand it gets a little old seeing the big 3 in mildly different variations over and over. I'm much more excited for characters like Red Tornado and Big Barda get some screen time instead of more Superman and Batman.
In all, though, this was a fun read and I know there's a lot to look forward to with this book. I can't wait for the next volume to come out.
October 22, 2013
Mandatory side note: I got my copy from Goodread’s First Reads.
Good art and writing combine to give readers new versions of the big names we already know, complete with new origin stories and a completely messed up world.
This volume jumps right into the action and never really lets up. It’s one thing after another in a rollercoaster ride of emotions and plot twists that kept me turning pages to see what could possible happen next.
The introduction of Dr. Fate is my favorite of all the Earth 2 heroes so far. Always an interesting character, E2’s version has some added depth that propels him into fascinating territory and I can’t wait to see where they take him next.
I only had two beefs with the volume.
One was with the way the artist insisted on posing the characters in some scenes, especially the women. There is no way that the human body can twist itself into some of the positions he draws and still maintain the equilibrium necessary to fight and stay on your feet. But that’s a detail with almost every comic book lately, so I’ll let it slip as something that you just have to accept.
The other detail that kept this from being a 5 star book was that it jumps around from one character/story to another so much that it got a bit confusing at times. It sometimes felt like I was missing some of the action, like some of the pages were missing or I’d skipped them without realizing. Still a good read, but a little more cohesion would have been nice.
Good art and writing combine to give readers new versions of the big names we already know, complete with new origin stories and a completely messed up world.
This volume jumps right into the action and never really lets up. It’s one thing after another in a rollercoaster ride of emotions and plot twists that kept me turning pages to see what could possible happen next.
The introduction of Dr. Fate is my favorite of all the Earth 2 heroes so far. Always an interesting character, E2’s version has some added depth that propels him into fascinating territory and I can’t wait to see where they take him next.
I only had two beefs with the volume.
One was with the way the artist insisted on posing the characters in some scenes, especially the women. There is no way that the human body can twist itself into some of the positions he draws and still maintain the equilibrium necessary to fight and stay on your feet. But that’s a detail with almost every comic book lately, so I’ll let it slip as something that you just have to accept.
The other detail that kept this from being a 5 star book was that it jumps around from one character/story to another so much that it got a bit confusing at times. It sometimes felt like I was missing some of the action, like some of the pages were missing or I’d skipped them without realizing. Still a good read, but a little more cohesion would have been nice.
May 21, 2014
What a bloody good book!
This volume was one hell of a page turner from front to back. I'd never known much about the golden age heroes before reading this other than what they looked like, but they are really coming to life in this. The main story focuses mainly on The Flash and Doctor Fate. Jay Garrick is showing some great character growth, becoming the hero he was born to be. We get a first glimpse of Doctor Fate in this book and it was worth the wait. Everything about his character was done really well!
As for the story it's fun and full of action. There are a lot of stories building here and they are very intriguing. The flashbacks of Terry Sloan (Mr 8) and the old "Justice League" (don't know if they had a name?) were really entertaining. I'm looking forward to finding out what's going on with Mister Terrific (who I'm guessing is from earth 1?). The villains in this volume are really well done. Mr 8 is excellent in the way that he thinks he is doing the right thing, in a twisted sort of way. As for Wotan he is pretty bad ass, his flashbacks with Nabu were awesome. I'm looking forward to continuing on the story with Steppenwolf too, he seems like a bad ass.
The art is also fantastic. Full of colour and beautifully put together. Overall this book kicks major ass. This title is leagues above 'Justice League' (see what I did there?) at the moment in my opinion. Great read!
This volume was one hell of a page turner from front to back. I'd never known much about the golden age heroes before reading this other than what they looked like, but they are really coming to life in this. The main story focuses mainly on The Flash and Doctor Fate. Jay Garrick is showing some great character growth, becoming the hero he was born to be. We get a first glimpse of Doctor Fate in this book and it was worth the wait. Everything about his character was done really well!
As for the story it's fun and full of action. There are a lot of stories building here and they are very intriguing. The flashbacks of Terry Sloan (Mr 8) and the old "Justice League" (don't know if they had a name?) were really entertaining. I'm looking forward to finding out what's going on with Mister Terrific (who I'm guessing is from earth 1?). The villains in this volume are really well done. Mr 8 is excellent in the way that he thinks he is doing the right thing, in a twisted sort of way. As for Wotan he is pretty bad ass, his flashbacks with Nabu were awesome. I'm looking forward to continuing on the story with Steppenwolf too, he seems like a bad ass.
The art is also fantastic. Full of colour and beautifully put together. Overall this book kicks major ass. This title is leagues above 'Justice League' (see what I did there?) at the moment in my opinion. Great read!
October 15, 2013
I got this book free from GoodReads FirstReads.
I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I started reading, but I was pleasantly surprised. Not only is it an interesting spin on the super heroes, but it also has nice artwork. Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman are in the first part of the book. Opal kryptonite is very interesting. I would like to see some more about that. Then the story switches to focus on Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, and the Flash with some help from Doctor Fate. I would like to see exactly how Hawkgirl gets her wings, and perhaps some more about her past. I'm not sure if more of the Flash's story is in the first volume or not. If not, I would like to see more of it too.
This series seems like a re-imagining of the origins of most of the major superheroes that we are familiar with. So far it is actually a good twist on those origins. I will have to try to get ahold of the first volume, or all the issues that make up that volume. Also I'll be on the look out for future volumes. I haven't read many comics in recent years, but I am glad that I ended up finding this series, Earth 2.
I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I started reading, but I was pleasantly surprised. Not only is it an interesting spin on the super heroes, but it also has nice artwork. Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman are in the first part of the book. Opal kryptonite is very interesting. I would like to see some more about that. Then the story switches to focus on Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, and the Flash with some help from Doctor Fate. I would like to see exactly how Hawkgirl gets her wings, and perhaps some more about her past. I'm not sure if more of the Flash's story is in the first volume or not. If not, I would like to see more of it too.
This series seems like a re-imagining of the origins of most of the major superheroes that we are familiar with. So far it is actually a good twist on those origins. I will have to try to get ahold of the first volume, or all the issues that make up that volume. Also I'll be on the look out for future volumes. I haven't read many comics in recent years, but I am glad that I ended up finding this series, Earth 2.
December 16, 2013
Hmm, the artwork was well, made me enjoy the book more. I enjoyed the new look on Dr. Fate, and his origin as well. It was also impressive seeing the objectives of Terry Sloan, aka Mr. 8, which gave me some more sympathy for him despite him being a villain. This also gave us a flashback on the war with Apokolips and Earth 2, making me glad to see the original trio in action. It was interesting to see how Green Lantern finally joins up with Flash and Hawkgirl in order to help the new Dr. Fate take on the foe in this book. This book also gives us the fate of Steppenwolf after the war, with him taking over a country with the help of Fury, the daughter of Wonder Woman. This book is worth the read.
October 26, 2013
I wish there would have been more of the GGL (Gay Green Lantern) storyline because that was easily the best part of the first volume. I wasn't really all that into the Earth 2 Flash, and this volume was a bit confusing and slow at times. It may have been that it has been awhile since I've read the first volume of Earth 2, but I do think part of it was a bit confusing. The art is phenomenal and as it's been brought to my attention, all done by a female artist which is pretty awesome. The art is definitely great, but the story leaves a lot to be desired. There was brief mention of the loss of GGL's partner which was probably the best part of this book, because I find Alan Scott the most interesting character in this title.
October 27, 2013
I have been awaiting the arrival of Doctor Fate since the launch of the New 52 and I must say, I'm not in the least bit disappointed. James Robinson ties up some very loose ends with the character's mythos resulting in a new Doctor Fate who's not just incredible in appearance (the new costume finally compliments Fate's mystic prowess) but also renders a distinctively greater degree of credibility to the character visa vie his alter ego's ethnicity and subsequent professional qualifications, which are of invaluable use to his role as the current vessel for the power of Nabu...the power of FATE!
January 11, 2016
This volume kind of dragged on a bit too long. I love Flash, but the rest came up short. It's mostly the art that's a HUGE plus and also anything with Jay is great. The rest felt just build up after build up. Let us love some characters first and let them grow before keep introducing new ones. Hopefully they get better as they go.
December 25, 2015
Ive come to realize i really don't like magic in my superhero universe. I'm fine with different realms of universes appearing in other comic books as a separate entity. But the whole part with Doctor Fate just really killed the whole premise of this for me.
July 1, 2016
Doctor Fate is introduced to the New 52 universe. The one chosen to be Fate is not keen, and only takes on the mantle to save an innocents life. It is not just about Dr Fate, it looks in more detail on Green Lantern and Flash, starting to flesh them out as characters. A good read.
December 13, 2016
The story is still all over the place and a little blah, but this is better than volume 1. It stopped pretty mid-story which was irking, but whatever.
May 1, 2017
Very nice alternate world version of the main DC universe. I enjoy seeing the new direction writers take these characters and the new ways they are used. Good reading for comic fans. Recommended
February 21, 2020
Życie dąży do równowagi, zatem im więcej pojawia się herosów, których tutaj ktoś określił cudami ("Wonders"), tym większe badass zaczynają panoszyć się po ziemskim podwórku. Tom drugi zgrabnie łączy wątki poprzednika, ale jest w moim odczuciu gorszą pozycją. W pewnych momentach tak nużącą, miejscami pogmatwaną i przegadaną, że traciłem zainteresowanie tytułem, zwłaszcza gdy pojawia się jegomość o nazwisku Wotan...
Po kolei. Pierwszy tom to historia z zakresu Zero Year rzucająca nam nieco więcej światła na dość enigmatycznego jegomościa jakim jest Terry Sloan. Gość z początku współpracuje z świętą trójcą bohaterską DC, czyli Wonder Woman, Batmanem i Supkiem, ale szybko się okazuje, że to ten fagas stoi za pojawieniem się na tej drugiej Ziemi tych wiecznie dymiących szczelin w skorupie ziemskiej, a które mają wiele wspólnego z inwazją sił Steppenwolfa. Więcej, typek stoi też za sprowadzeniem do tego świata Holta, czyli Mr. Terrifica. Rozgrywa on swoją własną, chorą grę, której wyniku nie potrafiłem rozgryźć.
Drugi tom daje też trochę miejsca dowódcy inwazji sił Apokalips na Ziemię. Sprytny wódź zabrał na wychowanie córkę Wonder Woman, Furię, czyniąc ją swoją najwierniejszą popleczniczką. Widzimy zresztą jej udział w całej, szeroko zakrojonej intrydze, która ma doprowadzić do konfliktu na większą skalę. Trzecią stroną i tą właściwą wydaje się Światowa Armia, pod przywództwem Komandora Khana, ale i oni mają swoje radykalne sposoby działania (atak na do Jay'a). Największą nadzieją na lepszą przyszłość mogą okazać się tylko nowi superbohaterowie.
Jest to grupa dość niejednorodna. Powiększająca się w trakcie opowieści o jedną, znaczącą figurę i każdy mający jakiekolwiek pojęcie o serii komiksów DC skojarzy Wieżę Losu (Przeznaczenia?) z Doktorem Fate'm (tadam, bum, ciek, super duper spoiler... Nie?). Ale zanim do tego dojdzie, to nastąpi zespolenie się i zgranie zespołu. Green Lantern przeżywa nadal swoją stratę, choć Hawkgirl dostarcza mu wskazówki, iż wypadek jakiemu uległ mógł być nie przypadkowy. Flash wraz z Khalidem (nowa postać, przyszły Dr. Fate) uciekają przed siłami Światowej Armii, dodatkową mając na głowie matkę Jay'a.
Cała wyprawa do samej wieży czy pobyt w wymiarze Nabu, choć niewątpliwie fajnie zarysowana, była dla mnie męcząca. Finałowa zadyma była dość niesatysfakcjonująca i czułem tu to, czego nie czułem wcześniej. Nasi bohaterowie to taki typowy skład herosów drugiego rzędu. Dobrze, że nie dali tutaj nikogo charyzmatycznego, bo zaćmiłby ich momentalnie, a tak całość jakość gra. No i nie wiadomo z jakiej paki wrzucili tu na moment Big Bardę i Mister Miracle. O żenua z rolą Mr. Terrifica nie wspomnę...
Rysunki są w miarę fajne, podobały mi się efekty magii, bo wiem jak łatwo takie coś sknoci. To po prawdzie tytuł nadal solidny, ale nie zaskakuje żadnym aspektem, jak poprzednik. Taki rzemieślniczy produkt. Mam nadzieję, że Robinson zaszaleje odpowiednio dalej. Ma potencjał.
Po kolei. Pierwszy tom to historia z zakresu Zero Year rzucająca nam nieco więcej światła na dość enigmatycznego jegomościa jakim jest Terry Sloan. Gość z początku współpracuje z świętą trójcą bohaterską DC, czyli Wonder Woman, Batmanem i Supkiem, ale szybko się okazuje, że to ten fagas stoi za pojawieniem się na tej drugiej Ziemi tych wiecznie dymiących szczelin w skorupie ziemskiej, a które mają wiele wspólnego z inwazją sił Steppenwolfa. Więcej, typek stoi też za sprowadzeniem do tego świata Holta, czyli Mr. Terrifica. Rozgrywa on swoją własną, chorą grę, której wyniku nie potrafiłem rozgryźć.
Drugi tom daje też trochę miejsca dowódcy inwazji sił Apokalips na Ziemię. Sprytny wódź zabrał na wychowanie córkę Wonder Woman, Furię, czyniąc ją swoją najwierniejszą popleczniczką. Widzimy zresztą jej udział w całej, szeroko zakrojonej intrydze, która ma doprowadzić do konfliktu na większą skalę. Trzecią stroną i tą właściwą wydaje się Światowa Armia, pod przywództwem Komandora Khana, ale i oni mają swoje radykalne sposoby działania (atak na do Jay'a). Największą nadzieją na lepszą przyszłość mogą okazać się tylko nowi superbohaterowie.
Jest to grupa dość niejednorodna. Powiększająca się w trakcie opowieści o jedną, znaczącą figurę i każdy mający jakiekolwiek pojęcie o serii komiksów DC skojarzy Wieżę Losu (Przeznaczenia?) z Doktorem Fate'm (tadam, bum, ciek, super duper spoiler... Nie?). Ale zanim do tego dojdzie, to nastąpi zespolenie się i zgranie zespołu. Green Lantern przeżywa nadal swoją stratę, choć Hawkgirl dostarcza mu wskazówki, iż wypadek jakiemu uległ mógł być nie przypadkowy. Flash wraz z Khalidem (nowa postać, przyszły Dr. Fate) uciekają przed siłami Światowej Armii, dodatkową mając na głowie matkę Jay'a.
Cała wyprawa do samej wieży czy pobyt w wymiarze Nabu, choć niewątpliwie fajnie zarysowana, była dla mnie męcząca. Finałowa zadyma była dość niesatysfakcjonująca i czułem tu to, czego nie czułem wcześniej. Nasi bohaterowie to taki typowy skład herosów drugiego rzędu. Dobrze, że nie dali tutaj nikogo charyzmatycznego, bo zaćmiłby ich momentalnie, a tak całość jakość gra. No i nie wiadomo z jakiej paki wrzucili tu na moment Big Bardę i Mister Miracle. O żenua z rolą Mr. Terrifica nie wspomnę...
Rysunki są w miarę fajne, podobały mi się efekty magii, bo wiem jak łatwo takie coś sknoci. To po prawdzie tytuł nadal solidny, ale nie zaskakuje żadnym aspektem, jak poprzednik. Taki rzemieślniczy produkt. Mam nadzieję, że Robinson zaszaleje odpowiednio dalej. Ma potencjał.
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