It took a while to get back to Worlds’ Finest, but at long last, our heroines are back on Earth 2. After five years gathering resources on Earth Prime, Huntress and Powergirl find themselves back on their home planet. The only problem is that their world has been torn apart by the war between the New Wonders and the forces of Apokolips. It was revealed after the release of the latest issue of Earth 2 that the conflict between Earth and Apokolips not only wiped out 90% of the World’s Army, but 1% of the entire Earth 2 population. On our planet, that would result in about 70 million deaths, or a little bit more than the entire country of France.
Important thing to note: this issue of Worlds’ Finest takes place before the issue 26 of Earth 2, which makes reading in order difficult seeing as how Earth 2 already came out. There are a number of storylines that are at work here in Worlds’ Finest, so in the spirit of the Future’s End reviews, I’ll take the three plots in order of what I found most interesting.
Tanya Sparks is still recovering in the aftermath of the explosion at Kara’s lab, which sent our tow heroines back to Earth 2. Crews are cleaning up the remnants of the facility, and Tanya uncovers something about herself that reveals itself in a really cool way. Without spoiling too much, Tanya is going through some changes right now, and how she’s wrapping her brain around it is fun to read. There’s a nice scene with her professor, where he explains how the same situation can be looked at from two different perspectives, and he encourages Tanya to use her myriad of talents to figure out what’s happened to her. She’s becoming the character I’m looking forward to reading more about.
Huntress and Powergirl are back on Earth 2, but things fall apart pretty quickly for the two heroines. Helena starts crying almost immediately, which I guess is a normal reaction to seeing one’s world consumed by war and destruction. It just felt off coming from the daughter of Batman and Catwoman, and just added to the disjointed writing that has held these characters back. All at once, Parademons appear, and the pair spend the majority of the issue locked in combat with the extra-dimensional invaders. There’s some cool aerial action, with Huntress and Powergirl holding their own, but if you read the review for the first 25 issues, you know how the fight ends.
Desaad…oh, hey, Desaad made it through the wormhole, too. There’s only three pages with Desaad featured at all, but they offer some insight into Earth 2’s technology and how it differs from Earth Prime. Just a few notes that might be important for the upcoming Earth Prime/Earth 2 war that’s been teased for months now: Desaad believes that Earth 2 scientists may have uncovered the “god particle” which allows boom tubes and other portals to open up to other dimensions. I’ll put more about that in the spoilers below, but Desaad seems to be intent on leading the planet into destruction as always; though with the result of the New Wonders/Apokolips War, I’m curious to see how Desaad’s plans will change.
I enjoyed the work done my Tyler Kirkham and Scott Kolins, especially on the scenes with Huntress and Powergirl. Hopefully they stay on long enough to improve the artwork over the shoddy quality that pervaded the last few arcs. All in all, this issue was a huge upgrade over what I’m used to reading in Worlds’ Finest.
- I would wager all the tangible dollars I have in my wallet that Tanya is the fourth Kryptonian from Earth 2 and somehow made her way to Earth Prime. If so, I think that would make her Val-Zod’s relative, as hinted at in several previews for Earth 2: World’s End. This is purely speculation.
- Kara must have known something was special in regards to Tanya, because she left her the legal name of Powergirl. This would hint more to Tanya’s Kryptonian origins, and unless I’ve missed something or unless Kara did something to Tanya, it would seem that Kara had to have known about Tanya’s powers. I haven’t read any of the older Worlds’ Finest issues since around April, so it’s all a little hazy.
- There’s no fight as advertised between Kara and Val or Helena and Thomas. This has to be coming soon because their encounters have been the focus of the upcoming Earth 2 advertisements that I’ve seen.
- I think that Desaad will use Earth 2’s advanced technology to have Earth 2 become the aggressor in the Earth Prime/Earth 2 war. I’m not reading Future’s End, but I don’t think the New Wonders are ready to face the heroes of Earth Prime.
Favorite Quote: “He’s only human. We don’t get second chances.” – Huntress
Recommended If…
- You’ve been following the pair’s journey back to Earth 2.
- You’d like to see some interesting developments unfold on both worlds.
- You enjoy the work of Tyler Kirkham and Scott Kolins.
- You like watching people discover their powers and deal with them.
Overall:
There are still some trademark weaknesses of Worlds’ Finest, namely the poor writing behind Huntress and Powergirl, but there are a host of secondary characters that became much more intriguing in this issue. The artwork was solid but I can’t help but feel that the title characters are not the most captivating people in this title.
SCORE: 7/10
