Quick question, and please be honest and forthcoming. Do any of you care about this book? Or rather, do any of you out there read this book? I haven’t seen the numbers for this series’ sales or for the number of consistent subscribers to the video game, but I went to my local comic store and they weren’t even carrying this book because of the lack of demand. I mean, the same problems still apply – who is this book aimed at? Why should I bother reading this? It’s not like the story is something groundbreaking or exceptional as seen in Injustice, where the fact that the book does not apply to the main continuity is negated by the fantastic job done by the entire creative team.
But on to the review, it seems. We start out on Earth-19, Gaslight Earth, where Alexander Luthor has made his way to Arkham Sanatorium to speak to Joker, who in this world is a tarot-playing German. You won’t believe what happens next; Joker says some cryptic stuff about there being other worlds, then makes a joke about playing a card game, then flips over the Death card, which has only been done roughly a trillion times. There’s not even a real reason for the Joker to be German, it’s just weird. Also, poor writing where Luthor says the word “sir” twice in the same sentence. Another thing. Luthor turns on a TV in his car. This is Gaslight Earth, yeah? So how are there TVs? Like I get that Luthor is an electric magnate, but in a world where people still power their homes by candlelight and think electricity is the “next big thing,” there is somehow a perfectly rendered, cross-country, LIVE BROADCAST ON A TV. Really? Really…
So back to Arcane Doomsday destroying Earth-44, the Mecha Earth. Every hero in this story is dumb at one point or another. Right off the bat Zatanna tries to fight Doomsday alone, because you know, that would work. Then Cyborg somehow unknowingly uses up all this weaponry in about 7 seconds, because you know, necessary plot device makes character far dumber than he should ever be. Then Flash makes awful jokes, even for any version of Flash’s standards, because I don’t even know.
Then, two pages later, Cyborg can suddenly transport eight thousand times while shooting Doomsday when he ran out of power after the aforementioned 7 seconds previously. Spoiler Alert, they beat Doomsday by sending him through a portal. The whole issue just has bad dialogue, and the more I’m reading it the more annoyed I’m getting. It’s a very strange thing that’s going on here, like listening to that one song you hate over and over again and not quite sure why. By the time I put this book down I had realized that I was actually getting angry at the book, like physically upset and angry.
I don’t even have words for the artwork and story. They didn’t mesh, everything was inconsistent, and the parts that did not make me annoyed were poorly done. Again, I refer back to my first paragraph: Does anyone read this book?
Recommended If…
- You play the game.
- You’re some kind of masochist.
Overall:
For the third time I’ll ask: Are any of you reading this book? I totally understand if you’re not, and if you are, why? I don’t see what’s here for fans of these heroes or for comic fans in general. But hey, I guess it’s trying to be original?
SCORE: 2/10
