Wait a minute, is that a coherent story from World’s End and Daniel Wilson? Is that par-or-better artwork from Barrows et al and World’s End? Is that a good score for World’s End in over six weeks? You bet your sweet rump it is.
NOTICE: Read this AFTER reading Earth 2, as the events of World’s End happen after Earth 2.
Siberia: The action picks up where it left off last issue, with Sam as the Avatar of the White being saved by Alan from the Furies. It turns out that Grundy is also not dead, seeing as how he’s a zombie and was blasted to the Moon by Alan yet still survived. The three start their battle against the Furies, and the Avatar of the Blue arises from the ocean. It is apparently the great beast that Aquawoman released from imprisonment near Atlantis.
Chicago: It seems that the Graysons are trying to board a train out of Chicago following the events of Earth 2 #29. They are met by Constantine and the other rogues who he freed from containment beneath Gotham. Constantine and his people take in the sight of Babs and Dick trying to retake the train from a panicked crowd, when all hell breaks loose. Complete cliffhanger that hand me frantically reading the rest of the book to see if there would be any mention of what happened.
Geneva Fire Pit: The Wonder squad is still reeling from Helena’s heart tracker suddenly dying, and they stumble across the real (?) Superman. I lost all of my steam for the whole “Why are they bringing Superman back” argument during the last review of World’s End. It’s stupid to bring him back, but this time around, it seems that this Superman is not his usual self. He is hooked up to a machine that powers the Apokolips fire pit, and in a fit of rage Thomas punches Clark in the face. Everyone is surprised to see that Clark is bleeding from the hit, leaving us to question whether or not this is indeed Superman.
New York City: These scenes showed the biggest improvement from last week, where whoever was drawing Flash and Hawkgirl hopefully got the week off. Hawkgirl is about to fight Flash under the influence of War when all of a sudden Doctor Fate and Jimmy Olsen show up floating in the sky and cure everyone. How did Fate get his helmet back? Didn’t it meld with the Mother Box and disappear? I’m so confused.
Apokolips: The World’s Army has landed on Apokolips and are planting nukes across the planet. The three natives of Apokolips – Mr. Miracle, Barda, and Fury – all head to this giant…purple…head…thing…and try to take a key. The key is sticking…out of the thing’s…head? But then it…grows a body? I don’t know. I just kind of went with it. It was a very weird way to end the issue. Long story short, Mr. Miracle is going to fight Darkseid.
- That’s it. Babs is dead. She has to be.
Favorite Quote: “Affirmative. This nuke is ready to rock and roll.” – Sandman (and every person from every cliché action movie ever.)
Recommended If…
- You’ve been looking for some quality artwork in this series.
- You have some kind of thing for Superman? That’s kind of been the thing for this book.
- You’ve been waiting for Daniel Wilson’s story to figure itself out.
Overall: A coherent story with genuinely breath-catching cliffhangers blends well with some of the best artwork that the series has seen to date. This was a strong turn-around from the past several issues which have certainly been disappointing. I look forward to where this story is going for the first time in a while.
SCORE: 7/10
