Earth 2 #21: A Plea For Heroism

I won’t lie. I’m getting bored with the evil Superman angle. Not so much because the story is boring, but more because something needs to happen. Well, outside of the complete devastation caused by Superman via his new boss Darkseid. For the last five issues of the series, there has been a lot of build up, but very little release. It’s time to stop ‘high school prom night’ and kick into ‘night at the brothel.’

Superman is wrecking the world. Flying around, ripping the arm off of The Atom and beating him up with it. He’s destroyed most of the world, preparing for a scorched Earth return of his master. The World Army tried to stop him, and failed miserably. The newly formed alliance of Earth 2 superheroes tried to step in, and that didn’t work out so well. The Flash is MIA, Green Lantern is MIA, and Dr. Fate is a babbling mess. Thus far, the only hope for the world is Lois Lane trapped in a robot’s body, Jimmy Olsen, who is not super powered but super intelligent, another bow and arrow guy, and Thomas Wayne, the real Batman’s father who has taken up his son’s vigil.

Within this group is very little power, save for a Kryptonian found in an underground facility. This isn’t Superman; this is a Kryptonian who has lived isolated and away from humanity. He’s kind. Unaggressive. This Kryptonian has never even tapped into his powers. So, as it stands now, the one guy who could put the hurt on Superman can’t. Meanwhile, the recently freed Aquawoman has returned to Atlantis and essentially told the surface world to go fu&# itself.

Tom Taylor has done a superb job with the individual issues, but there is a bit of drag on the overall arc. Something needs to happen with Superman, as it grows tiring to flip through yet another book of him shredding the Earth with nobody to put him in check. There doesn’t have to be a resolution right away, but something needs to go down. A win. A reason to keep hope alive. Earth 2 is getting dangerously close to being so wrought with destruction that beating Superman no longer matters.

Thankfully, the most beautiful woman in comics has returned with her stunning artwork. Nicola Scott plays with the big boys and leaves many of them in the dust. Her pencils have the same main event vibe as Jim Lee or David Finch, but with more character, and a real devotion to facial expressions. Scott is bold in the action, but never sacrifices mood or backgrounds. She renders a complete image in each panel, which gives the entire story a feeling of immediate danger.

(3 Story, 4.5 Art)

Iann Robinson started his career early writing for Sound Views magazine and spreading all the way to Japan Warp. In 1996 he created the wildly popular cable access show Monkey Butt Sex. In the four years it was on Robinson interviewed dozens of bands ranging from Sick Of It All to The Melvins as well as cementing his name in the underground music world. From Monkey Butt Sex, Robinson began MBS Productions, directing small budget videos for Hedpe, H20, Napalm Death, Sick Of It All, Warzone, and others. This led to the next big phase of Robinson’s career, MTV. In 2000 Iann Robinson became an on air news reporter and quickly attracted both bands and fans with his honest and often brutal opinions. After MTV Robinson began writing for Crave Online as well as starting his own small press comic shop Isolation Disorder Comics. Robinson also produced and starred in the on-line pop culture show Dude, That’s Awesome.