Last time in Earth 2: World’s End we said goodbye to Superman for the second, and hopefully final, time. His sacrifice paves the way for the reforming of the Wonders and sets the stage for the rest of the series. There is still the Furies to overcome, one Grayson child to save, and the looming shadow of Apokolips bearing down on Earth 2. Daniel Wilson’s story has begun the task of bringing together all the elements that will decide the fate of the planet, and all we can hope for is a satisfying conclusion to an otherwise inconsistent book.
Parliament Enclave: From the Heart of the Earth we get a quick recap from the Parliament of Elements, who tell us how their power is waning and without the fifth Avatar they will certainly lose the war. There are stirrings, though, and the Red Avatar is preparing to rise from captivity.
Geneva Firepit: Yolanda Montez is finally free from the machines that kept her trapped in the Firepit and blasts a hole straight through to the surface. The other Wonders follow her out, and there is a nice burial sequence for Clark. Apparently Wildcat was the catalyst powering all the Parademons across the world, which is a severe tactical error on the part of Apokolips. By freeing her, the Wonders shut down pretty much every Parademon and strike a severe blow to the Apokolips forces. Once the Wonder Squad is out of the Firepit, they come across an abandoned World’s Army base and receive a message from Flash detailing the information the World’s Army has on the Furies. Then Thomas grabs a jet, because flying a highly-advanced military jet is in his wheelhouse, and the Wonder Squad flies off to fight the Furies.
Amazonia: Mr. Terrific, Sandman, Mr. Miracle, and Fury come through a boom tube and end up in Dr. Crane’s lab. Jimmy Olsen is there and tells the crew about Sloan’s other hyper-advanced intergalactic ship that’s suspended in space. So many leaps in logic.
The Eurasian Steppe: So this battle has crossed basically the entire country of Russia. It started over Siberia, then Huntress/Famine destroyed some cities, and now they’re over Eurasia. Green Lantern is the last one standing when the Earth cracks open and Wildcat bursts out of the ground. I’m not going to question the physics of how she broke out of the ground right where she needed to be, yet the Wonder Squad came out in Geneva. By the time the Wonder Squad shows up to the fight, the text box says “Four Hours Later.” I always assumed that the storylines were going on at the same time, but have the Avatars and Furies been fighting for literally an entire day? They never stopped to breathe or take a chill pill or anything? Couldn’t Val or Kara or Lois just carried Thomas with them instead of going at jet speed – which is definitely slower than top speed for Val or Kara? Whenever a comic or TV show has these concurrent stories and elongated fight scenes, I’m always curious about the time span. I get that they’re super-powered beings empowered by the personifications of nature itself, but I get exhausted running a 5K. I cannot imagine the sheer number of calories burned when all is said and done. The fight between the Wonder Squad and the Furies had me elated, because it showed just how powerful these heroes are. If they weren’t busy messing around underground for days, this war might have been over a long time ago.
I’ve said enough about the art team of Kirkham et al. in the last four issues, but this book in particular had some of the strongest artwork I’ve seen from the series so far. And that was all without the Grayson scenes in Chicago that I love so much.
There’s a panel that jarred me and I ended up reading it three or four times before I realized it was an editorial mistake. Val is talking about Clark to Kara and says “He was your like father and your family.” Unless Val has developed a Clueless valley-girl accent, this is an annoying editing mistake.
- Don’t count anyone as dead until you’re sure they’ve bit the dust, but Huntress is in bad shape. I can’t imagine DC killing off a character considered “mainstream” relative to her counterparts, but I didn’t think Red Arrow or Atom would be taken out either.
- DEATH’S BABY IS BORN! It’s about damn time. To quote the great American philosopher Peter Griffin, “You’ve been pregnant for like, six years. Either have the baby or don’t.” We only get to see a clawed hand but it looks angry.
Favorite Quote: “Is this – is this the Flash?” – Red Tornado upon coming out of the Firepit.
Recommended If…
- You’ve been looking for more storylines to wrap up.
- You enjoy this art team.
- You don’t mind some serious logic leaps.
Overall: While this issue brings together almost every diverging storyline, there are still some serious flaws that this book will have to overcome. Story-breaking leaps in logic, an insane time span that has zero explanation, and editing issues take away from the popping artwork and immersive premise.
SCORE: 5/10
