Pop Mythology Pop Mythology: Movie, Book, Comic reviews & commentary
With James Robinson’s departure from Earth 2 and DC comics I was a bit nervous to see what Tom Taylor’s plans were for the intense formula that has proven itself for Robinson and the series over the past three volumes. I need not have worried though, as Taylor’s experience reimagining and destroying worlds is not at all alien to him, having worked on Injustice: Gods Among Us.
Taylor does a great job reinforcing the foundation that Robinson built Earth 2 on and immediately sets to work showing us this new, evil Superman (again, Taylor has some experience in that area) and the new wonders that must rise up to challenge him – all with the even darker threat of Darkseid looming over the horizon.
With all the doom and gloom set up in Earth 2, some of the beacons of light Taylor begins setting up is an interesting and welcome change. It should be interesting to see how well these new heroes can weather the storm that is Superman’s reign of terror and all that goes along with it. The new wonders’ origin stories introduced throughout the volume are interesting and, though they do retread a lot of recognizable ground, they depart from key points more than I thought and remain a great reason to continue reading the stories. The world of Earth 2 feels far from safe, it never has from the very first issue, and Taylor really runs with that.
Thankfully, not only does Taylor do a terrific job writing a series that hits all the right notes, but Nicola Scott is still on the series and seems to only be getting more confident with each issue. The new wonders that are unveiled are wonderfully conceptualized and designed, the fact that a lot of them are characters of color and not just gender swaps is also a welcome change.
More so than that, the distinct, strong voices they have leave me wanting to see more of them in the future, especially since Taylor has yet to really delve into a few of the characters backstories. I’m looking forward to yet more of the intense action and interesting world building that Earth 2 has become known for, and am left confident that the reigns have been passed to an extremely talented, capable writer.
