Earth 2 #5
Written by James Robinson
Art by Nicola Scott, Trevor Scott, and Alex Sinclair
The short of it:
With Washington D.C. under assault (well, the entire world is under assault, but GRUNDY is in D.C.) we open up with a view of how capable the World Army is, as well as the Wonders they possess. Sure, we knew they had the Atom, but now we know they have Wesley Dodds and his Sandman Squad. We get a nice little look at the War Room of the council as well. Then it’s back to the fight, where it’s not Atom fighting Green Lantern, Flash, and Hawkgirl because he’s under orders to bring them back for questioning and study. He’s assuming that landing on Grundy killed him and is working over the secondary objective, which is really just a showcase for how awesome Jay Garrick has become in just a few issues of having powers. This lasts up until Grundy reforms and takes down the big man, sapping his power into the Grey in order to speed up the world killing process.
Because you can’t really beat the avatar of death by smashing it into the ground. Just saying.
This cues up the return of Alan to take on Grundy head on, because the avatar of the Green has a better chance against that of the Grey then a few super humans. He wants to take things a bit more…spiritual, and fight Grundy on a different plane. This means that the others have to keep Grundy busy and not killing Alan while he has his out of body experience.
All of this and the World Army sending in a consultant to help with the battle strategy, and Terry Sloane doesn’t care if these new Wonders live or die.
What I liked:
- I really really really love that they call the heroes Wonders in this world. It’s a small difference, but it makes everyone seem so much grander. The heroes of this world aren’t a dime a dozen, they are the awe inspiring hopes and dreams of a people that came so close to extinction.
- This version of Grundy is awesome. He’s a force of nature instead of a giant Hulking zombie. You can still punch him a lot, but there’s so much more to it, and it makes for a much more interesting story.
- I love the banter back and forth between Atom and everyone else. Especially the ‘little big man’ comment. I’m really looking forward to seeing how the character progresses, and to see how he deals with this new team if they aren’t part of the World Army.
- I have always been a Jay Garrick fan, but I don’t think I ever bought a book on the expectation of what he would do in it before this series. I love this wide eyed fresh faced guy that is just absolutely stoked to be there. He’s the everyman that we can relate to, and Robinson is nailing it.
- Nicola Scott, welcome back after a one issue break! Her style makes this book feel larger than life, and active on every page. The page of Jay scaling Atom at super speed is just gorgeous. Not to mention just how absolutely creepy everything Grundy related looks.
- I love all the little mentions of the names of classic JSA members being teased. From “pulling a Ted Grant” to it being mentioned that the Red Tornado isn’t completed yet and Captain Steel is too far away. So many more potential members!
What I didn’t like:
- Terry Sloane’s answer to everything: Nuke it. For the smartest man in the world, you’d think he’d have more than one idea for stopping bad guys.
- The World Army needs some more depth, right now it’s just a multicultural group of essentially nameless people trying to garner public opinion. Sure, they do good work, but they need more page time before I’ll really care about them as something more than a name brand plot device. They aren’t S.H.I.E.L.D. yet.
- This may just be my prior hate kicking back in, but I don’t like Hawkgirl that much. The visual, sure, I dig that, but I haven’t really found a way to care about what happens with her. I was burned on the last version of Kendra, and editorial shuffling ending that potential Red Arrow relationship in favor of killing her with Hawkman. I know that won’t happen here, but I never forget. Ever.
Final thoughts:
“The Death God Grundy”, how awesome is that for a name on a cover?
“67 seconds ago”. Terry Sloane channels his inner Adrian Veidt.
Is “pulling a Ted Grant” kicking sucker punching? Can Ted debut soon? I need some Wildcat action. Even though I have this fear he’s going to be a boxing hybrid of Animal Man and Beast Boy. Then I remember everything else this book has done, and the fear goes away.
I almost listed Alan at the end of the issue as something I didn’t like, but his boyfriend died the same day (comic time), it’s just been a few hours. He hasn’t even really started to grieve, so yeah, I can see the ability to have him back being tempting.
I really hope Red Tornado is a non-jobber version of the one every writer seemed to love to throw around the past ten years or so. I do love the concept behind the super android, but I hate that he only ever shows up when you want to kill a character without actually killing someone. It feels cheap.
I want Hourman and Dr. Mid-Nite. I’ll take Rex and McNider, but I would definitely prefer Pieter Cross as my shadowy doctor.
I really love having faith in James Robinson again. This book is one giant home run. A real must read.
So, about that extra dollar I want to give up for more pages of this book? I’ll take a World Army backup story.
Overall: 8.5/10
