Future's End: Earth 2 #1 - A Review

Five years in the future, systematic discrimination against the refugees of Earth 2 has become the rule on Earth 1.  And on the eve of futurist Michael Holt's releasing his latest technological wonder to the public, he quickly finds himself a wanted man.  All of this is due to the machinations of the evil genius Terry Sloan and his accomplice... the evil genius Terry Sloan?


Unlike the Future's End special devoted to Green Arrow, Future's End Earth 2 presumes the reader is already well familiar with the events of both the Future's End weekly series and Earth 2.  This is problematic on many fronts, particularly since there is so little of the characters that have made Earth 2 so interesting a title in recent months.  This is not a slight on Michael Holt or Terry Sloan but they have been bit-players in the drama of Earth 2 for much of the last year and to suddenly bring them front and center with no explanation of how they established themselves on Earth 1 is jarring to say the least.

Most of the characters who held the center stage in Earth 2 are absent from this issue.  Indeed, the only nod to these characters is a quick cameo by Jimmy Olsen and a cutaway that reveals Lois Lane - a.k.a. The Red Tornado of Earth 2 - being disassembled in a Cadmus lab.  None of this is explained for the readers who haven't been following Future's End and the only reason I understood any of the significance of this scene was due to Future's End: Green Arrow #1 taking the time to explain the Cadmus connection.


That said, the action of the story is well-written once one gets past the confusing continuity questions.  And the artwork by the same team who did fill-ins for Nicola Scott on Earth 2 is quite good all around.  In the final analysis, this isn't a bad comic but it doesn't seem like it is a wholly necessary one if you are an Earth 2 fan with no interest in Future's End.