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Earth-2 #24
DC Comics, $2.99, 32 pages
Released: June 4, 2014
Story Grade: B+
Issue Score: 71.75
HARDLY RECOMMENDED
"The Kryptonian, Part Four"
(20 pages / 94 panels / 1,084 words / 7:10 read time)
Writer: Tom Taylor
Penciller: Eddy Barrows
Inker: Eber Ferreira
Colorist: Pete Pantazis
Letterers: Dezi Sienty, Taylor Esposito
Editor: Mike Cotton
My biggest complaints to date with Tom Taylor's run on this title are the glacial pace of his plots — we've probably moved about 45 minutes in story time since he came on board eight months ago — and the speed at which his issues read. This particular issue was a beauty to behold, and had several genuine "gosh-wow" moments, but I was in and out in a little more than seven minutes.
Take the $2.99 cover price and divide by the 7:10 reading time, and we can quickly calculate that this comic book cost 41.7¢ per minute. Adding in the time it took to read the Al Feldstein tribute and the ever-useless Channel 52 promo page, and this book still cost 33¢ per minute. Just to break even on this book, in terms of time invested, a person has to earn $19.80 an hour! That friends, is a poor entertainment value, compared to almost any other form of escapist fantasy, be it books, movies, tv, video games, or what have you.
Still, I have enjoyed Taylor's run on this title far more than Robinson's. While this is still not MY Earth-2 (for that we'd have to go back to the All-Star/Adventure Comics stories published before Taylor was even born), this at least now feels like a fully-realized world. Previously, we got an Earth-2 that seemed to belong to no one but Robinson. It read so much like fan fiction that I was on the verge of dropping the title when Taylor took over and I decided to give it one last try.
While Taylor's story is more accessible, challenges remain for anyone not fully invested in the story thus far. Who are Beguiler and Bedlam and why do they have The Flash? What is all the fighting and blowing up cities about? Who is the woman kneeling by Red Arrow's corpse? Who is Red Arrow and how did he die? Who is this Lois who apparently told Jimmy about Batman's identity, and where is she? These are things I know, but I'm certain they're questions that would be raised by any picking up this book for the first time, possibly to complete the "bombshell" cover set. And, poor value aside, inattention to the casual reader is a big reason for declining comic books sales, in my humble opinion.
The Flash rescue is sort of perfunctory and takes up more panels than it needs to. It's interesting, however, that Hawkgirl references how she, Flash, and Green Lantern were "brought together." It underscores that, 24 issues and two years in, the Earth-2 heroes have yet to coalesce into a real team, operating in large part as Robinson's prologue heroes and Taylor's second-wave contingent.
For me, the best parts of this book are the pages involving Jimmy Olsen, who is rapidly become the real star of the series in my eyes. Of course, he does tend to go on about how he's "really good at discovering things" about as often as a certain version of Superboy used to say "tactile teleteknesis," but no character is perfect. It was interesting to hear him drop a Robin-bomb and I can actually see that happening. Perhaps, to forge new identities, and to retain trademarks for DC Entertainment, Thomas Wayne and Jimmy Olsen could become Nightwing and Flamebird?
I also like Val-Zod, who, as Jimmy notes, seems more heroic for his inaction as for anything he might have done it what promised to be a losing battle with Superman anyway. SOME mention of Supes might be helped this issue, as well. It does seem that Val is fated to become the new Earth-2 Superman, and I'm WAY cool with that. DC could use a regularly recurring black Superman. Maybe Taylor could also debut a New 52 version of the Kaldur'ahm Aqualad as well?
My big question regarding Val, however, is how a Zod came to be wearing the El family crest, assuming the S-icon has a similar origin on Earth-2.
Oh, one last note, while I enjoy the work of Nicola Scott, I would have absolutely no problem with the Barrows/Ferreira team — perhaps a last minute substitution, given the cover credits, unless listing Scott was an editorial error — staying with this title full-time. Of course, there are rumors of an upcoming Earth-2 weekly series, so we may get more of Mssrs. Barrows & Ferreira yet.
[COVER: 6.60 — PLOT: 6.0 — SCRIPT: 8.50 — LAYOUT: 8.50 — ARTWORK: 9.0 — EDITING: 5.50 — COLORS/PRODUCTION: 8.75 — DOLLAR VALUE: 4.25 — COLLECTIBILITY: 7.25 —GOSH-WOW FACTOR: 7.50]
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