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lvh's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
misssusan's review against another edition
2.0
i'm so confused right now?
there was a reason i put this on hold, i distinctly remember reading something that had me hyped at the concept of earth-2
i just cannot recall what it was in the slightest
and this volume was okay but nothing jumped out to me as great or the kind of trope i like enough that i would put a book on hold right away hearing about it
mysteries
anyways i'm probably not going to keep up with this; none of the characters grabbed me and the worldbuilding doesn't have me excited either
2 stars
there was a reason i put this on hold, i distinctly remember reading something that had me hyped at the concept of earth-2
i just cannot recall what it was in the slightest
and this volume was okay but nothing jumped out to me as great or the kind of trope i like enough that i would put a book on hold right away hearing about it
mysteries
anyways i'm probably not going to keep up with this; none of the characters grabbed me and the worldbuilding doesn't have me excited either
2 stars
ohnoflora's review against another edition
3.0
Read for the Stan Lee Excelsior award - http://www.excelsioraward.co.uk
One of DC's "New 52" series. I am not very familiar with the canon but this was a pretty decent read. It is an origin story so didn't do much more than establish the characters - am interested to see what direction it goes in.
One of DC's "New 52" series. I am not very familiar with the canon but this was a pretty decent read. It is an origin story so didn't do much more than establish the characters - am interested to see what direction it goes in.
bentheoverlordsbooks's review against another edition
4.0
Just as good on a reread, I love the reimaginings of much loved characters
rhganci's review
4.0
Zany antics abound in our first glimpse (sort of) of the New 52 Multiverse, and James Robinson and Nicola Scott give us a weird, quasi world government, a lot of saint language to celebrate the fallen Trinity (Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, of course), and a new use for a B-list villain that can only provide just the right degree of adversity to bring together, hopefully, the fledgling team of new "Wonders" to protect the world.
It sounds like a scaled-back mega-plot, and to some extent, that's exactly what it is. The plot revolves first around the Earth-2 version of Darkseid's Parademon invasion, the tragic aftermath that martyrs a more-experienced trio of Wonders than the Earth-Prime version we encounter in Justice League, Vol. 1: Origins, and a struggle that unifies a trio of apostate and new metahumans, including a college-age Jay Garrick (the Flash), a Hawkgirl on the run from the World Army, and a brand-new, totally different Green Lantern. Robinson hurries to fill in a lot of the gaps in the 5-year jump forward in time that comes as part of this catch-up volume, and as such, the size of the conflict that the story centers on never feels quite as big as they want it to be. Ultimately, we can be sure that there is much more to come, a larger conflict and a more robust roster of Justice League members (or whatever they're going to be called) in the issues to come, but as that's the expectation that we take away from the story, the end of this first arc falls somewhat flat.
The artwork, however, is stunning. Nicola Scott sketches up a beautiful, detailed world with expressive, easy-to-follow action sequences and impressive settings, especially on splash pages or other large panels. She also gives the story some of the most expressive facial models that I've seen in a while, especially in issue #1, as the entire issue revolves around the final moments of Darkseid's invasion. The drama of that issue lends most of its power to the art of Nicola Scott, and even as the storytelling stumbles towards the end of the collection, the artwork gets better and better, and as such, is worth checking out.
It sounds like a scaled-back mega-plot, and to some extent, that's exactly what it is. The plot revolves first around the Earth-2 version of Darkseid's Parademon invasion, the tragic aftermath that martyrs a more-experienced trio of Wonders than the Earth-Prime version we encounter in Justice League, Vol. 1: Origins, and a struggle that unifies a trio of apostate and new metahumans, including a college-age Jay Garrick (the Flash), a Hawkgirl on the run from the World Army, and a brand-new, totally different Green Lantern. Robinson hurries to fill in a lot of the gaps in the 5-year jump forward in time that comes as part of this catch-up volume, and as such, the size of the conflict that the story centers on never feels quite as big as they want it to be. Ultimately, we can be sure that there is much more to come, a larger conflict and a more robust roster of Justice League members (or whatever they're going to be called) in the issues to come, but as that's the expectation that we take away from the story, the end of this first arc falls somewhat flat.
The artwork, however, is stunning. Nicola Scott sketches up a beautiful, detailed world with expressive, easy-to-follow action sequences and impressive settings, especially on splash pages or other large panels. She also gives the story some of the most expressive facial models that I've seen in a while, especially in issue #1, as the entire issue revolves around the final moments of Darkseid's invasion. The drama of that issue lends most of its power to the art of Nicola Scott, and even as the storytelling stumbles towards the end of the collection, the artwork gets better and better, and as such, is worth checking out.
daybreak's review against another edition
3.0
That was an okaish read. Fairly entertaining all in all.
But way too many characters which prevents character development. By the end of this you don't really care for or know any of them.
The major problem, however is the writing. It is so on the nose and tacky. It makes the whole comic seem cheap. There is an attempt at exposition through dialogue and thoughts of the characters but it is so clumsily carried out, it's unnerving. The dialogue/writing just pulled me out of it. Didn't feel genuine at all.
Hope it gets better...
But way too many characters which prevents character development. By the end of this you don't really care for or know any of them.
The major problem, however is the writing. It is so on the nose and tacky. It makes the whole comic seem cheap. There is an attempt at exposition through dialogue and thoughts of the characters but it is so clumsily carried out, it's unnerving. The dialogue/writing just pulled me out of it. Didn't feel genuine at all.
Hope it gets better...
apageinthestacks's review against another edition
3.0
3.5/5.
The writing/dialogue is… -really- bad. Like, I honestly don’t understand because Robinson is a very well-respected writer, so I’m hoping maybe he was just trying something new here and it didn’t work?
The story was still fun though, and the art was great (though the coloring and/or inking didn’t mesh as well as it could with Scott’s pencils), so I’m still looking forward to reading more.
The writing/dialogue is… -really- bad. Like, I honestly don’t understand because Robinson is a very well-respected writer, so I’m hoping maybe he was just trying something new here and it didn’t work?
The story was still fun though, and the art was great (though the coloring and/or inking didn’t mesh as well as it could with Scott’s pencils), so I’m still looking forward to reading more.
trike's review against another edition
2.0
I don't know what to make of this.
This is about an alternate Earth, where Apokolips has gone and done an old fashioned Apocalypse and killed all the "wonders".
In the beginning of the story, all of the characters speak with the same odd cadence, so it's impossible to differentiate one from the other. There are odd skips in the dialogue for some reason. If it were an affection of one character, that would be fine, but they all do it. Which makes it a failure on the part of the author. By the end it's a bit better, but while the stylized weirdness goes away, all the characters still sound the same.
Wonder Woman in this instance is nearly monosyllabic. Thankfully she dies within a couple pages. (That's not a spoiler, it's on the cover.)
The art is good. A bit confusing in a couple places, but no big deal.
For some reason Mister Terrific shows up for two pages then gets killed by the Smartest Man in the World. It's the same problem I had with the Batman New 52 story -- although this is a reboot of the DC universe, there are holdovers from earlier stories for some reason, and I have no idea why they're used, because without context they make no sense. So Mister Terrific shows up from somewhere else, and the Smartest Man in the World knows this somehow (reason not given except that he's smart) and then kills him. I guess to establish the SMinW as a bad guy or something, I don't know, because I have no idea if rebooted Mister Terrific is supposed to be good on Earth 2 or not.
This is a different Earth 2 from the superb Grant Morrison invention from a decade ago, by the way. There are the heroes Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman instead of the villains Ultraman, Superwoman and Owlman. Not sure what's going on here.
...okay, looked up the Wikipedia article on this. Apparently the multi-comic epic saga from the 1980s called "Crisis on Infinite Earths", which wiped out the DC multiverse, no longer happened or was otherwise retconned, because alternate Earth stories are fun.
So apparently this Earth 2 is the original Earth 2 from back in the day, before the Morrison post-Crisis mirror-universe version. I think that should have been made more clear in the intro or something, because I was floundering about, not having followed DC comics continuity in decades.
This is down to bad writing, because there are a lot of assumptions being carried into this book that I couldn't follow. Why did Mister Terrific show up just to get killed? Is he a rebooted one or an original one? No idea. Seems like a cheap way just to intro your bad guy.
Eh, whatever. This "New 52" is just as lame as the old DC comics. No wonder Marvel is eating DC's lunch and asking for seconds.
This is about an alternate Earth, where Apokolips has gone and done an old fashioned Apocalypse and killed all the "wonders".
In the beginning of the story, all of the characters speak with the same odd cadence, so it's impossible to differentiate one from the other. There are odd skips in the dialogue for some reason. If it were an affection of one character, that would be fine, but they all do it. Which makes it a failure on the part of the author. By the end it's a bit better, but while the stylized weirdness goes away, all the characters still sound the same.
Wonder Woman in this instance is nearly monosyllabic. Thankfully she dies within a couple pages. (That's not a spoiler, it's on the cover.)
The art is good. A bit confusing in a couple places, but no big deal.
For some reason Mister Terrific shows up for two pages then gets killed by the Smartest Man in the World. It's the same problem I had with the Batman New 52 story -- although this is a reboot of the DC universe, there are holdovers from earlier stories for some reason, and I have no idea why they're used, because without context they make no sense. So Mister Terrific shows up from somewhere else, and the Smartest Man in the World knows this somehow (reason not given except that he's smart) and then kills him. I guess to establish the SMinW as a bad guy or something, I don't know, because I have no idea if rebooted Mister Terrific is supposed to be good on Earth 2 or not.
This is a different Earth 2 from the superb Grant Morrison invention from a decade ago, by the way. There are the heroes Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman instead of the villains Ultraman, Superwoman and Owlman. Not sure what's going on here.
...okay, looked up the Wikipedia article on this. Apparently the multi-comic epic saga from the 1980s called "Crisis on Infinite Earths", which wiped out the DC multiverse, no longer happened or was otherwise retconned, because alternate Earth stories are fun.
So apparently this Earth 2 is the original Earth 2 from back in the day, before the Morrison post-Crisis mirror-universe version. I think that should have been made more clear in the intro or something, because I was floundering about, not having followed DC comics continuity in decades.
This is down to bad writing, because there are a lot of assumptions being carried into this book that I couldn't follow. Why did Mister Terrific show up just to get killed? Is he a rebooted one or an original one? No idea. Seems like a cheap way just to intro your bad guy.
Eh, whatever. This "New 52" is just as lame as the old DC comics. No wonder Marvel is eating DC's lunch and asking for seconds.
sherpawhale's review against another edition
3.0
Fun energy, but mainly superficial mechanisms in the character development. We barely see Alan's lover before he's gone, at which point, Alan almost forgets him entirely.
Still, I know there's good stuff ahead with Tom Taylor's run, and I want to have the groundwork in place.
Still, I know there's good stuff ahead with Tom Taylor's run, and I want to have the groundwork in place.