Following the explosive conclusion to last issue, Alan Scott discovers that he is the only survivor of the train explosion, saved at the last minute by a green ball of energy which has been sent to give him the Earth’s energy in order to become the planet’s new champion. (It’s explains that the reason it didn’t do so during the war with Apokolips is because of the presence of Superman.)
We also catch up with Jay Garrick and Hawkgirl. She attacks him to see how his fighting skills are… nonexistent. Suddenly, everything around them starts to die and decay.
Alan, seemingly forgetting all about the death of his lover and everyone else on the train, accepts the ball of energy’s proposal and takes on the powers of the Green Lantern, even fashioning a costume out of the energy.
Finally, a classic JSA villain is reintroduced and has been even more radically reinvented than the heroes!
Nicola Scott ‘s art is wonderful as always. I actually like these character designs a lot more than I have most of the New 52 looks. Flash still has a helmet inspired by Mercury’s but is sleeker and doesn’t look like it could fall off his head at any minute. Green Lantern’s costume is actually green, not red and purple like it used to be. It’s streamlined and doesn’t have a bunch of fussy lines that serve no purpose. The armor on his chest recalls Alex Ross’ knight-inspired design for the character in ‘Kingdom Come.’ Hawkgirl’s costume’s color scheme is nothing like the old version’s but I still like it. Like the Flash, she has a really neat helmet.
Niceness aside, I had a hard time reading this book. I just didn’t like it for some reason. The dialogue was pretty bad– just very stereotypical, trite comic book speak. I mentioned that Alan Scott seemingly forgets all about poor, dead Sam for most of his conversation with the light. I think the lettering was bad too. There is a boo boo when Hawkgirl tells The Flash, “Boy, you’re going take some work.” (Should be “Going to take some work.”) And I don’t know if it was the lettering or the script, but at one point Flash, all in one word bubble, says “Yeah, well, I’ll be running along, if it’s all the same to you. Trust you? Trust you?” Uh… Hawkgirl didn’t say anything about trusting her. What is he reacting to? I don’t know if a word bubble got omitted or is a line of dialogue was cut and they missed the reaction. I just know it was sloppy.
The reinvented villain is ingtriguing. I’m all about diversity, so gay Green Lantern and African American Hawkgirl are fine with me. Like I said, the art and design work are excellent. But this book isn’t resonating with me. It’s just clunky writing, I guess. James Robinson has written some amazing books like ‘The Golden Age’ and the bloody brilliant ‘Starman’ but he’s been on a losing streak lately, with ‘Justice League: Cry For Justice’ and its aftermath. Oh ‘Earth 2’ isn’t as bad as that, but it could be so much better.
Verdict: Borrow (if just for the art)
EARTH 2 #3
Written by James Robinson
Art by Nicola Scott with Trevor Scott
Cover by Ivan Reis, Joe Prado and Rod Reis
