Review: Earth 2 #9
Posted By M Morse on February 8, 2013
Earth 2 is currently one of DC’s better books, but that statement comes with a caveat: readers may need some familiarity with DC’s Justice Society of America (also known as JSA) to enjoy this book to the full extent. Effectively a rebooted version of that title, a good part of the fun for the reader lies in how familiar characters are reintroduced and retooled in a parallel world that inexactly mirrors the “main” DC Universe. Robinson has done a nice job with this, making original Green Lantern Alan Scott a gay man, introducing a team of “Sandmen” led by original Sandman Wesley Dodds, giving the original Flash a new, mythological origin, and now, making the new Doctor Fate - Khalid Ben-Hassin – an Egyptian. It’s a move that’s laudable not simply because it adds further diversity to the book, but because it’s a simple, natural evolution that suits a character who has always drawn heavily on Egyptian iconography.
After two standalone issues that further established the original Mister Terrific as Earth 2′s ultimate supervillain and revealed the existence of Wonder Woman’s corrupted daughter, writer James Robinson has introduced a new four-issue arc dealing with one of DC’s weirder characters: Doctor Fate.
Instead of hastily assembling a dedicated team out of the various JSA characters in Earth 2, Robinson has chosen to focus on the larger world of “Earth 2″ itself, letting the various characters ping-pong off of one another as they cross paths rather than grouping them together inorganically. This patient, world-building approach to the title helps set it apart and gives it a feeling of expansiveness, but the lack of dynamism in Doctor Fate’s introduction makes this issue less engaging/welcoming than it could have been. This is not to say that Earth 2 #9 is a bad issue – it’s not. The artwork by Nicola Scott and Trevor Scott is solid and reminiscent of Ivan Reis, and Robinson’s approach to the title – a kind of Astro City-esque emphasis on the overall world – continues to yield its share of pleasures.
The issue with this issue, so to speak, is this: Exposition in place of action with a sense of unnecessary decompression. Robinson could have introduced all the information he does here with a short, intense “origin” sequence/flashback. Instead, he has Hawkgirl and the new Fate sit around her house and talk. While the shift in Fate’s human identity is interesting and welcome, the way Fate is introduced here feels unfortunately low-key and a little generic (down to the colorless and unintentionally-funny issue title, “The Man Who Was Scared”). It’s only in the final, lovely panels that readers get a real taste of the strangeness inherent in the character of Fate and in his personal mythology (and even there, Robinson has the character of Wotan – a classic Doctor Fate villain – give an unnecessary “info-dump” to the reader).
Earth 2 #9: Now With More Sitting!
Robinson smartly weaves The Flash’s story through the middle of all the talk in this issue, and emphasizes again the creepily totalitarian “World Police” that govern affairs on Earth 2 by having a retooled Atom Smasher utterly wreck the mother of The Flash’s house while the new Sandman uses Flash’s mother as a hostage/human shield. The end of the standoff between Flash and these flunkies is fairly anticlimactic, but it serves to get Doctor Fate and Flash together for what promises to be a more engaging story in issue #10.
Judging from Hawkgirl and Fate’s conversation and from the final panels, Robinson is setting up an interesting version of Fate here – but he’s taking the long way around with this issue and that leaves readers with a story that’s mostly setup. As an opening chapter it sets the stage adequately, and there’s enough substance so that it’ll play well in trade, but for monthly readers it’s a bit of a tease.
Issue #9 is not the ideal jumping-on point for Earth 2 as a whole. For that, as much as I hate to say it, you’ll want to wait for the first trade. However, if you’ve been enjoying the book issue #9 promises more fun and wonder in the near future. Bring on the Doctor!
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