Earth 2: Society #22 - Life After Dead
MAY 2017
8th MARCH 2017
When New 52 first started, I was one of those who bought everything, but I only kept two of them: Worlds' Finest and Earth 2. Let me remind you, I knew nothing about Power Girl or the characters of Earth-2. Obviously, I was predestined for all this!
I dropped off around the time of Futures End so I missed a lot, and I mean a lot of Earth 2 lore!
So sensibly, we're starting at the very end of Earth 2!
Much like the current Absolute universe, Earth 2 was born from interference from Darkseid, this time an invasion that killed the big three of that universe, driving them off. Into that void, new heroes, called Wonders here, step up as versions of the original Earth-2 heroes. Ironically, it's Earth 2 of Alan Scott (Green Lantern) that first made him gay (though, like another Lantern, Kyle, the story also fridges his love interest).
In the end, they lose and Earth is destroyed, and what is left of humanity flees on space arks to look for a new home, then Convergence happens!
After convergence comes this book, Earth 2: Society, where humanity has a new home, the planet made for the convergence cities to fight each other (a Battle World if you will). Supers are feared and distrusted due to the machinations of a secret manipulator, who, it turns out, is Ultrahumanite. Using an Amazon artefact, he remade the world so it was a restored Earth (a Maker if you will*), but wiping out all supers but our heroes.
Our heroes fight hordes of Sandmen and manage to defeat the Ultrahumanite, freeing a controlled Alan Scott in the process. And that's where we are now, at the very end of Earth 2's run!
LIFE AFTER DEATH
We start with, as all good comics should, with Kara Zor-El, Power Girl, in a version of her Earth 2 costume. At this point, we're post-Rebirth, so old Power Girl is back, and hence this version could dress how she wanted without anyone kicking up a fuss.
She's even our focus character as we go through a series of vignettes setting up the new status quo for Earth 2, which just happens to be more or less a regular superhero world.
First, we see Sargent Steel taking down a group of old-fashioned bank robbers, then we see Kara deal with the most common foe of Kryptonians, automobiles.
Really, we hit all the superhero tropes, with Alan Scott (Green Lantern) rescuing a cat from a tree and Val-Zod, this world's Superman, talking down a jumper.
I mean, there was also a Clark, but he went bad and died, but that's beside the point! Val is the one Earth 2 character that's been seen since the series ended, though we did see him and this Pee Gee in last year's DC Power special.
Then it's Fury, Wonder Woman's daughter, it's complicated, taking down a robot, and then, strangely, we get a couple of pages recounting the entire history of this Earth 2( see above). Then it's back to the vignettes with Jay Garrick (Flash, without his cool hat) and Lois Lane (this world Red Tornado, sadly, the robot one) reporting on the Flash story. Kendra (Hawkgirl) is just chillin' and flying around before to shakes things up, we get Alan back to help Power Girl to help save people.
Because we've had far too much sunshine, we have to go for the darkness for Batman to take down a Scarecrow gang, though this Batman confusingly is Helena Wayne (Bruce's daughter and once Huntress) with a John Grayson Robin (Dick's son, we'll get to him later).
With all the intros out of the way, we get the closing action, everyone has gathered together chatting away, and everyone sounds like they're actually friends (not something Earth 2 has always done). In case the comparison isn't obvious, we get a variation of the classic JSA table meeting, only this time reflected in Val-Zod's S-shield.
The last reveal is that Dick Grayson, told you we'd get back to him, is this worlds Oracle having been paralysed back in Convergance. Finally, the meeting starts and our narrative ends with this Earth 2 becoming Earth-2, which is how it's referred to now, by Waid, no less, the bastion of continuity right now!
* It's crazy how much Earth 2 sounds like a mash-up of the big two's current alternative universes, DC's Absolute and Marvel's Ultimates, if you didn't know that this came first. Though obviously, the original Ultimate universe had already been and gone at this point.
I missed the entire Earth 2 phenomenon, but did read the Huntress/Power Girl World's Finest series later, which had some great bits. And of course, Val-Zod Superman is a striking character who I should look more into.
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