When you look at the definition for the word fame, something particular strikes me a interesting. In most instances, people who have a achieved a level of fame by doing something worth talking about (fame isn’t a good or evil status). However if you look out cultures in the current day, there’s a lot of people who are famous due to the fact of what family they where born into. So apply that to the world of superheroes, where a good majority of these people become famous because of their heroic deeds, but what if that’s not enough for some of them?
If you’re a long term reader of Earth 2, besides the lack of Alan Scott seeing any growth as a character, is that Jay Garrick hasn’t progressed as a character either. Granted I’m a bit more lenient because Jay has done more as a hero, where as Alan simply couldn’t get over the murder of his dead boyfriend. The idea of intertwining fame with the superhero is far from a new concept (look at Spider-Man’s origin for reference), but Wilson weaving in the modern idea of fame with the personality of Jay (who many forget just like me, he’s still a nineteen year old kid).
Wilson manages to make you understand Jay Garrick’s complaints, they aren’t valid by any means but to have Jay still remain sympathetic to readers is the testament of the Wilson’s ability to push a character into unfamiliar territory yet still keep intact the genesis of that character. With this being a Flash centered issue, Jorge Jimenez delivered some amazing character work on Jay. The exasperation can be felt on Jay’s face as he’s told to just suck it up, or the fear of being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of people needing his help.
Despite some refreshing character building for a member of The Society, it appears that Wilson is building towards something that just seems a bit odd from my perspective. It seems that Jimmy Olsen aka Impossible Man is on the road to be the next big bad God villain for Earth 2 (cause Heaven know we need more of those). I’m not completely against Jimmy Olsen morphing into some egotistical fueled God, it’s the lack of any investment into this iteration of Jimmy Olsen. This is where I feel this time gap hurts this book in the grander scheme of things, we are treated to glimpses of the past, some of them prove to be substantial, but other times it feels just lazy .
If we had time to see Jimmy fall from grace while getting to know him as a character in the process, then the final page might have had more impact on me as a reader. As of now it’s just another sub plot that Wilson has laid even more foundation for. Hopefully there’s some sort of pay off to all this.
Earth 2 Society #5 earns a 3/5
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