Earth 2 #21 - A Review

"Five years ago on a parallel Earth, Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman died defending their home from the forces of the dark planet Apokolips.  And a new group of heroes emerged - Green Lantern, Flash, Hawkgirl, Doctor Fate, Red Tornado and more.  With another war brewing, this new generation tries to avoid the destiny of their predecessors as the dangers of Apokolips return..."

The first page of Earth 2 #21 summaries the story so far with these words.  It is a good summary and captures the base concept of the book and the current state of the world quite well.  And yet this book is still largely inaccessible to new readers due to the sheer number of subplots this book contains. 


Tom Taylor excels at getting into the heads of his characters and giving them all good moments to showcase their personalities.  The best scene in the issue - for my money - depicts World Army Commander Khan's anguish as he contemplates the deaths of the soldiers under his command  and the sheer scope of this war being fought across space and time.  It is all well written but there's no real sense of momentum to the main story.  One hero seems to die but little is made of it.  And the subplot involving Project Beyond is resolved as quickly as it is introduced.


Thankfully, while this is an off-issue for Taylor, the artwork is as great as ever.  Nicola Scott and Trevor Scott are one of the most consistently underrated creative teams in the business today.  I have no idea why their work on this title hasn't been nominated for an Eisner.