Welcome back to what’s devolved into one of the less coherent and slowest books around – World’s End! Who would have thought so little would end up happening during the apocalypse brought about by a deific alien planet of the same name. Literally billions of people have died, and I have not cared once. That’s how little connection I’ve made with these characters. I’ve said almost everything about this series, so these reviews have become little more than summaries of what’s been going on and whatever piques my interest that week. Read on.
The Center of the Earth: The Parliament of Elements is reeling from its encounter with the Deathspawn, and The Blue has bitten the dust. After regaining their strength, they send Alan back to Earth 2 to find that Azathoth has also been killed after losing his source of power. They reach the conclusion that the Avatars must combine their power into one source to overcome the strength of the Deathspawn, and Alan is chosen to be the last remaining Avatar. Grundy and Sam pretty much disappear, but for whatever reason (future storyline purposes) Yolanda is left alive.
New York City: Helena and Thomas are still in Terry Sloan’s headquarters while the world is being terraformed around them. They find out where Oliver Queen is and anything that will help them discover more of Bruce’s final message. There’s a completely bonkers page at the end of the scene where Helena and Thomas jump out of the building and grapple onto a passing jet, which is as ridiculous as typing that sentence was. At least it looks awesome. The art of Kirkham et al. was on point today more than most issues, which was a pleasant surprise to an otherwise listless story by Daniel Wilson.
Atom’s Haven: Dick Grayson and Ted Grant are still looking for Constantine and his people in Atom’s Haven in order to find Dick’s son. They find Obsidian, one of the released criminals that Constantine freed, and they discover that Little Grayson is being held by Brainwave. It would seem that he is controlling people across Atom’s Haven, though for what reason no one seems to know.
TSS Endurance: Ugh. This. Just this. Mr. Miracle and Fury drag Mr. Terrific and Sandman onto the super-secret, hidden, interdimensional space station that Terry Sloan was just hiding out in space. It’s another scene where Mr. Terrific and Sandman can put on their best faces and be all “HUMANS ARE TOUGHER THAN YOU THINK!1!1!1” Ugh. Oh, and guess who magically appears on the ship? Terry Sloan. Because that makes sense.
The North Sea: Sloan’s information leads Thomas and Helena to a seemingly abandoned oil rig in the North Sea. Helena pricks herself on a rusty bar, which activates some kind of automated recognition software and indicates that this was indeed the place they were looking for. Can we talk about how stupid this is? The trigger is someone bleeding while on the rig. How would anyone know that? And what if someone was just really careful about not cutting themselves on the tetanus-coated metal? So in theory Helena and Thomas could have figured out all the stuff Bruce wanted them to and gotten to the rig, only to not cut themselves on the metal and then the story is over. Oliver Queen is a jerk.
Last issue I brought up the stupid dialogue that Powergirl was spouting during one particular scene, so this time I’ll bring up some stupid lettering choice. Huntress is talking about Bruce’s clues and has this gem, “Before everything went to hell, Dad and I were tracking this smug jerkface who just looooooooved riddles.” I won’t even touch the concept of a grown woman trained by two of the greatest human fighters on the planet using the term jerkface, which I thought was reserved for twelve-year olds who didn’t know proper curses. Look at that “loooooooooved.” This may be a pet peeve, and I want to hear your thoughts, but I hate this. I don’t care what character does it (except for the Joker, because I have double standards) but this looks amateurish on paper and sounds dumb when I say it in my head. What’s wrong with using bold or italic font for emphasis? Why do we have to use multiple letters like a five-year old would? Ugh.
- I pretty much spoiled everything in the article. Hi!
Favorite Quote: “Christ, what a miserable place.” – Thomas, and me.
Recommended If…
- You want to finish this to the end.
- Look, it’s not getting particularly better, so if you aren’t still reading it at this point I don’t think this is issue is going to do anything for you.
Overall: We’re twenty issues in, and things are still being set up and characters are just being introduced. This thing ends in like six issues, and half of the storylines are going absolutely nowhere. If you want it that badly, just buy the trade.
SCORE: 3/10
