Earth 2 #28 review

Who’s up for an origin story?  Anyone?  How about four?  “Origins” is just that, with a look into the pasts of the Four Furies of Apokolips.  The exploration of the issue as a whole is going to be pretty short, seeing as how this is mostly background for some characters who haven’t really made an impact in Earth 2 outside of War.  She’s by far my favorite.  Who’s yours?  Who are these Furies anyway?  Check out the Spoilers for some theories.

Tom Taylor and Marguerite Bennett take a break from the events of World’s End, where we last saw our Wonders spread across the world taking on the forces of Apokolips.  The tales of how each Fury came to be are all tragic in their own way, the sort of thing that Apokolips feeds off of.  Through coincidence, merit, or destiny, these four very different women find themselves in the service of Darkseid.  While I enjoyed the gut-wrenching story of Pestilence, and the militant upbringing of War, the story takes a dip with Famine and Death.

Pestilence is a lower-caste citizen from the planet Czarnia, trying to survive scrounging supplies for her sick parents in a very “1%” society.  It’s the story of a woman with nothing to lose, whose blind anger at her own planet pushes her to an awful fate, only to be recruited by Desaad (who has a face at this point).  Famine is a warrior on Warworld when Steppenwolf (who isn’t dead at this point) comes to recruit the greatest of the planet’s fighters.  I thought this was the weakest by far, mostly because of how basic and bare-boned it felt.  I won’t spoil anything for War, but it’s a very 300-esque feel.  Death is another weak one, told from the perspective of a dead child, which was as weird to read as it is to type out.

More interesting than the story is the artwork, which involved six artists broken up into four teams, one team per Fury.  Allison Borges takes Pestilence, and is very hit-or-miss with her details.  She can pull off some awesome images once Pestilence is taken in by Apokolips, but the scenes in Czarnia felt very empty.  Andy Smith and Trevor Scott have Famine, who do a good job of illustrating life on Warworld.  Javier Fernandez is tasked with War, and for some reason it reminded me of anime.  I don’t know why; perhaps it was the facial features that he used but that’s what kept popping in my head.  Lastly, Diogenes Neves and Marc Deering illustrate Death, bringing to life intense scenes of devastation on an alien world.

Here comes a new wrinkle in the issues with having two lines running at the same time, trying to tell the same story.  If World’s End is the action and chaos while Earth 2 serves as the exposition, DC is basically forcing me to buy two series in order to fully understand the story they’re trying to tell.  This is different from, say, Death of the Family.  I can get Death of the Family without reading the Teen Titans tie-in, but World’s End and Earth 2 go hand-in-hand.  Hell, Earth 2 #27 happened in the middle of World’s End #1.  This is the strange double-edge weapon that is Earth 2: World’s End in effect.  If you aren’t reading World’s End, then this month’s Earth 2 may seem like a few details short of a whole issue.

Points get taken off, however, for the World’s End requisites.  It’s like introducing something in Batman Eternal but needing to know it to fully get Batman.  Don’t make me buy a book in order to understand another, that’s what tie-ins are for.  This isn’t a tie-in, they’re separate and distinct books.  I’m not a fan.

Favorite Quote: “The Furies of Darkseid never die.” – Steppenwolf (I feel like that will be disproven,)

Recommended If…

• You want to find out about the Furies.
• You enjoy the work of the aforementioned artists. There are a lot to choose from.
• You have a thing for origin stories.

Overall:

Some interesting backstories give new life to common characters, isn’t that one of the major appeals of Earth 2?  This book is full of it, along with quality artwork and provides a pause from the chaos that is going on in Earth 2: World’s End.

SCORE: 8/10