Earth 2 #20 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Man, Taylor packs in a lot here.

With the revelation that Hawkgirl saved Dr. Fate and Red Arrow from the parademons and brought them to the Batcave, I realized that Taylor was slyly constructing a Justice League to take the place of the Justice Society that we never really got to see in action for long in this series.  Gone are Atom, Flash, and Green Lantern; here are Batman, Red Arrow, and Red Tornado.  (Dr. Fate and Hawkgirl round out both teams.)  This change was more or less confirmed when I realized that Taylor is also setting up the Kryptonian to become Earth 2's Superman.  Lois is pretty emphatic that the Superman currently destroying the world isn't Clark and I'm inclined to believe her.  Even if it is Clark, it seems unlikely that he's ever going to be able to take up the mantle of Earth's greatest superhero again, given the havoc that he's wrecked.  Presumably, it'll be Val's confrontation with Clark that transfers the crown.  When it happens, this alternate version of the Justice League will be complete, with Red Tornado possibly taking the role of Wonder Woman in the core trinity that makes it the League and not the Society.  I'm not 100% sure that Taylor is going this route, but, if he is, the anticipation doesn't do anything to reduce the awesomeness of it.

There are moments where I have to remind myself to pause and really appreciate the art or script in a comic book.  This issue has both moments.  In terms of the art, it's when Rocha destroys all the houses of worship in the world, since Superman insist that Darkseid is the only god. As the heroes regroup in the Batcave, these pages remind us that Superman's destruction of Earth continues apace.  Similarly, I had to take my time reading Lois' speech to Val.  Taylor does such a beautiful job capturing Lois' voice, making you really believe that she's in there. The tragedies that she's suffered in the last few days -- dying, awakening as a robot, seeing her husband destroy the world, holding her father as he died -- seem insurmountable.  But, that's exactly when you believe that she's Lois, because she's not going to sit in a corner with her arms around her knees, something that she concedes to Val sounds really nice at that stage.  I complain that comic-book authors often tell and don't show, but Taylor reminds us exactly why showing is so important here.  You can tell us that it's Lois, but it's only when Lois acts like Lois that we believe it.

**** (four of five stars)