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Of Embassies and Origins - Justice League International Part 2 (Eaglemoss Collection v77)

  Review: Since we are doing a series of reviews focusing on Booster Gold over his nearly 40-year history, we include this one as a collection of some of his earliest appearances, dating to late 1987. That places the original publish date of these tales while his original solo series was still going strong.  This book is a beautiful, glossy hard-cover with smooth and heavy-stock paper inside, although the sometimes-low print reproduction quality leads to blurred and hard to read word balloons on occasion. It is also a rare book here in North America, as Eaglemoss Collections targeted UK fans with this series. At this point in the history of the 1987-rebooted Justice League, they have gained official United Nations recognition and sanction. To ensure their reach truly is global, they rebrand as Justice League International (as does the title of the series!) and they open new headquarters buildings around the world: New York, Paris and Moscow are included here. As this is a product of 19
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Homesick Heroes - Earth 2 Society volume 1 - Planetfall

   

cover of Earth 2 Society volume 1

Review:

At last, the diminutive label "Earth 2" makes sense to its occupants. Calling anything "number two" diminishes it relative to the prime, the "number one". And since the Silver Age it has always carried overtones of supremacy and superiority with the occupants of Earth-1 - DC's mainstream reality and continuity - relegating their Golden Age forebears and counterparts to second-class heroes.

But just as we are learning to change our language away from, for example, saying Columbus "discovered" the Americas (one cannot discover a land already filled by other nations), so DC has finally given Earth 2 a proper meaning. It is now "Earth 2.0" a reboot of the original, and not defined by the self-referential "discoverers"

Now, finally, the residents of Earth 2 occupy a new Earth. They can proudly apply the label to this new planet in their own context. It is a brilliant evolution, emerging from the DC Comics Convergence crossover extravaganza. They are now no longer the discovered, but rather the literal colonizers, putting their energy toward settling their new planet, building cities, societies and new lives.

It beggars belief, the things they were able to build within a year of Planetfall. Even with a handful of Wonders, and with scavenging from the wrecks of their space-going Arks, to have such apparently well-established civilizations is an immediate annoyance. Superpowers can do amazing things, but bend the rules of physics? Concrete takes time to cure, welds to cool, iron to set. These would pose real limits to their ability to build such amazing cities in such a short time. But let's suspend belief enough to accept how shockingly far this society has come in just a year after crash-landing in wrecks scattered around the planet.

Daniel H Wilson's tale brings our heroes (Superman, Power Girl, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Red Tornado, Huntress) into conflict with both the brilliant megalomaniac Terry Sloan and Doctor Impossible. Jimmy Olsen, reimagined as a brilliant early-teens hacker, has now been transformed into a superpowered anarchy-minded villain. Both Sloan and Impossible wish to remake the earth under their own vision and control.

The tale moves at a brisk pace, as Wilson tries to fit many scattered plotlines into his limited space. Jorge Jimenez and Alisson Borges' art leans toward dark tones and images, working somewhat against the mood of hope at the new start, and of relief of their very survival. Their stylized characters strike Manga-esque poses, minus the big eyes, and their body poses, spiked hair and narrow, pointed chins and combat poses evoke such influences repeatedly.

Overall this is a promising new start for the very beleaguered citizens and heroes of Earth-2, now justly considered Earth-2.0. Looking forward to more, I score this 3.5 capes out of 5.


Description:

Continuing the saga that began in EARTH 2, writer Daniel H. Wilson (EARTH 2: WORLD'S END) and artists Jorge Jimenez (SUPERBOY) and Alisson Borges (LOBO) start civilization from scratch in EARTH 2: SOCIETY VOL. 1: PLANETFALL!

A year has passed since Earth-2 was destroyed by the armies of Apokolips. The survivors of the catastrophic tragedy have now made planetfall on a new world, and, with the help of heroes old and new, built a home.

But some threats can survive even Apokolips. New super-villains have arisen to capitalize on the confusion, even as heroes like Batman, Power Girl, Superman, Green Lantern and The Flash struggle to find their place on an unfamiliar world.

And unknown to all, Terry Sloan has developed technology with the power to change everything. Some will want to use his Genesis Machine to re-make this planet into an exact copy of the Earth they left behind; others, to build a brand new society, free from the mistakes of the past. Who wins this debate will determine the course of a civilization, but one thing is certain: in the wrong hands, this device has the power to destroy the last hope of a people who thought they'd already lost everything.

Collects: issues #1-7 and DC SNEAK PEEK: EARTH 2: SOCIETY #1

Authors: Daniel Wilson
Artists: Jorge Jimenez, Alisson Borges
Published By: DC Comics
Published When: March 15 2016
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN: 9781401261238
Pages: 170 pages


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