Now I know what you’re thinking, and nope I didn’t stop reading World’s End after one issue to never come back again. I instead have made the decision to review the weekly book as a complete month. Given the nature of how a weekly comic works, reviewing each individual chapter would honestly burn me out. I apologize if that disappoints people but this is the only way that I could see myself reviewing a weekly comic book. Enough the that nonsense though it’s time to see how the first month of World’s End was handled by this team of writers and artists.
In the past, weekly books from DC the start usually has a lot of setup and introductions before the actual plot can proceed. With World’s End coming off the saga that is Earth 2 the writing team can pretty much hit the ground running and boy did they. The pacing from issue to issue is filled with non stop action. It feels like the writing approach appears to be that of a Hollywood blockbuster but a good one, not the Michael Bay version.
The only story aspect that does stick out though is the introduction of Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon and so far it’s these scenes that slow the pacing just a tad. It’s not clear what their roles will be but so far it’s been revolving around Barbara feeling helpless after being removed from being a police officer and forced into a refugee camp. All of this makes it feel like the reader is simply looking at the same scene over and over again with a slight change in dialog.
Despite that I stated this series had the blockbuster feel, I’m pleased to say that it’s not devoid of character moments. While there could be more (especially between Thomas and Helena and Val and Kara) the fact that some pages are merely there for characters and not action nor exposition is simply grand.
Even though I’m reviewing this as one giant issue, the writing team did a bang up job of making a reader want to come back and see what happens next week. It does help if you’ve been reading this series for a while so you have a firm grasp of the personalities for each character, which enhances the cliffhanger but they are strong cliffhangers regardless.
However it’s the art that most readers will point to as the weakest aspect of any weekly title. That’s not a fault of the individual artist but again the nature of the beast doesn’t allow for the best polish. With the exception of some Tyler Kirkham pages the art blends well enough together to tell a coherent story.
If you’ve been looking for a thrilling Justice League adventure than this one I would give a look at. Plenty of action and enough interesting plots to keep a reader coming back each week.
Earth 2 World’s End #2-4 earns a 4/5
You can find Ben’s video game reviews at his blog
You can also follow him on Twitter