BATMAN! You like Batman right? To give context for those who didn’t read my review on the first issue of Earth 2 Society, the focus on Batman and almost zero focus on the large cast of characters rubbed me the wrong way. However I acknowledge that was only issue one and the other characters would most likely have their time to shine. The promise of a cool revision of an older villain along with a new world to explore still has me excited for what’s to come down the road. Oh and Alan Scott does in fact show up….GL connection after all…
Thankfully for this issue Daniel Wilson actually incorporates the other members of this Society, however even though I am happy to see these characters receive earn some much deserved page time, most of them don’t earn any proper introduction. They are introduced at face value, potentially leaving any new reader confused on who they are. Yes there is a page dedicated to who they are in quick text boxes from the thoughts of Terry Sloan just feels like a cheap way to introduce the cast. Perhaps the intention is to introduce these cool and unique looking characters and give their back story later. It’s hard for me to judge if this was successful or not due to my familiarity with these characters.
Instead of focusing on any of the heroes of Earth 2, Wilson instead gives us the perspective of Terry Sloan. Unlike Batman however Sloan provides an aspect that has only been seen once and that was during one of DC’s gimmick months. While Sloan has been a thorn in the sides of Earth 2 before, he hasn’t been properly fleshed out as a character. So while Sloan’s character isn’t completely fleshed out here, the reader is given enough to understand Sloan’s motivation, and even though everyone see’s him as pure evil Sloan, he see’s himself as a hero.
Remember kids the greatest villains are those who don’t believe they are villains at all. This brings a dynamic that Earth 2 has needed for quite a while. Sloan doesn’t come off as crazed as before but instead more cunning and ruthless making him demand your attention. In conjunction with Sloan, Wilson builds a plot line from all this as it seems some allies have become former allies.
No context is really given heightening the tension and mystery to why Commander Sato would even consider working with Sloan. Two issues in and Wilson already has two plots running side by side, reminding me as an X-Men of their glory days of the past. As I mentioned the other heroes of Earth 2 do play a role and while they aren’t fleshed out they do bounce of each other in dialog very well. Exchanges flowed extremely well with the occasional cheeky remark in response to a given situation (ie Red Arrowing and his dialog in reference to needing a gun).
Jimenez’s art still remains solid and I deeply enjoyed his more exaggerated facial expressions mesh with the rest of his art style. His action sequences are the highlights of this issue as they are dynamic and easy to follow. although on some of more dialog intense pages, his character models can come off as statue esque with their stiff posing. Overall a solid job yet again though.
Society #2 while it didn’t improve on the problems I had with the first issue, it did fix a problem the previous volume had and it introduced a unique plot line that could drive the book forward. This wasn’t a perfect issue as the lack of focus on more the cast still doesn’t sit well with me just yet.
Earth 2 Society #2 earns a 3/5
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