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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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Superman of War and Peace: Review of Earth 2 Volume 5 - The Kryptonian

   

Cover of Earth 2 Volume 5 - The Kryptonian


Review:

Tom Taylor, of Injustice fame, spins another tale of Superman as a super-powered despotic tyrant. In this collection of Earth 2 chapters, plot threads that once were scattered with only the loosest of connections have been woven into a more coherent picture, one that is dark, grim and rapidly worsening under Superman's mighty thumb.

The strength of Taylor's storytelling is in the relationships and complex, nuanced characters. They show us their ability to hate one another on one page, then courageously risk their lives for their frenemy in the next. Even the villainous Superman has hints of depth and humanity beneath his near-omnipotent power and unstoppable rage.

Alternate realities such as this New-52 Earth 2 give creators lots of room to experiment, and DC's multiverse has a long history of fostering such imaginative alternate tales. One of the cleverest twists here has Red Tornado in female form and with Lois Lane's mind. This takes some getting used to for the reader, though apparently not for Superman, who grasps it in seconds. Likewise turning Jimmy Olsen into a 13-year-old tech hacker flips familiar characters into exciting new roles.

In this story, Superman has become a loyal servant of Darkseid, and works to destroy the World Army and other Wonders, with great prejudice and gory violence. He is also compelling the world's greatest brains to build a planet-sized Boom Tube, to take the whole planet Earth back to Apokolips.

The secret weapon of the good guys is Val-Zod, another Kryptonian. Alas, with his embrace of pacifism, can he truly confront Superman and save them all?

When the visuals are in the hands of Nicola Scott, she continues to deliver jaw-dropping panels and clever sequences. In this collection, she shares art duties with others, whose more constrained style serves to help Scott's stand out all the more.

Description:

Superman is the most powerful being in the universe. And for once, that's not a good thing.

The Last Son of Krypton is now an enforcer of Darkseid, the evil despot who will stop at nothing to take over Earth 2. However, there is one man who can stop them and that's...Superman?

A new Superman--named Val-Zod--has appeared and the heroes of Earth 2 must convince him to help them in their darkest hour in one last desperate attempt to stop Kal-El. Can they band together in time to prepare for Apokolips and the forces of Darkseid? And can Val-Zod become the hero they need him to be?

Collects: Earth 2 (New 52) #21-26 and Earth 2: Futures End #1

Authors: Tom Taylor
Artists: Nicola Scott, Scott Trevor
Published By: DC Comics
Published When: Dec 1 2015
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN: 978-1401257576
Pages: 176 pages


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