Written by Daniel H. Wilson, Marguerite Bennett, & Mike Johnson
Art by Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira, Jan Duursema, Jonathon Glapion, Jorge Jimenez, Tyler Kirkham, Joe Weems, Robson Rocha, & Paul Neary
Published by DC Comics
Earth 2: World’s End rounds out its first month with issue #4 so how does it fare so far? If there’s one way to describe this week, it’s that while it still suffers from a story stretched between its massive cast and how every three pages has its own art team, it still comes out on top with an interesting story.
What helps the most this issue is the shift of story from Earth 2’s Superman and Batman families to the war with Apokolips on a grander scale. The characters who take up the spotlight are the leaders of the World Army: Mr. Terrific and Terry Sloane, Mr. Miracle and Big Barda, and the enigmatic Fury. While last issue, the New Gods characters broke from captivity, they now decide to help the World Army in what little ways they can to stop Apokolips from destroying Earth. It’s quite relaxing to see heroes put aside their differences and work things out. Fury also gets some much needed backstory. She was a villain in the early arcs of Earth 2, and it’s interesting to see her move towards helping the human forces. However, this cuts out other big heroes, like Green Lantern and Aquawoman, whose action scenes take place off panel. Aquawoman (despite appearing on the cover) doesn’t get to fight Death in Atlantis. Instead, the whole fight is glossed over with only the end shown. Green Lantern gets similar treatment. His battle in Rio is mostly ignored which is odd since it next issue’s cover implies he may die. It would be a real waste of a character, especially as someone whose been around since issue one. On the plus side, his story features the return of another old Earth 2 villain, Solomon Grundy. Along with the Apokoliptian Court, World’s End is bringing out villains with good designs, but lack a real presence in the story. The Graysons also appear. What role they have to play is still unknown.
Like the last three weeks, issue #4 also suffers in the art department. The credits are a block of the nine different artists all working on just one title. It’s a real shame too as the few panels of Aquawoman are pretty decent. Her scene is by far the artistic highlight of this issue. Whose art it is exactly is another question. For some reason, there are no page numbers for who is drawing what segments in the credits.
Upon reflection, that’s by far World’s End’s greatest flaw. The writers are doing a solid job setting up the major conflicts of this series and streamlining numerous continuity hiccups in Earth 2, but the countless artists are really damaging it. There’s no panel that really sticks out to impress the reader and of course, where this series falls into line with the Earth 2 main book is still a mystery. While many of these comments may be negative, World’s End does have the potential to be a fantastic series if it could try a bit more.