Sunday, February 15, 2015

Earth 2: World's End #17 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

We're definitely squarely in the next phase of this series.  Wilson seems to be confirming that humanity's days on Earth 2 are numbered.  With only two million people left alive, it seems entirely plausible that Jimmy Olsen could get everyone on board that spaceship and flee to "our" Earth.  But, Wilson doesn't make it easy for them, since Barda's new task is to use Desaad's "proto-demons" to kill all the refugees.

Wilson also seems to be winnowing out the ranks for the grand finale.  The Furies are defeated, though one of them seems to have given birth to Kalibak, Darkseid's son.  However, I'm not 100 percent sure if Kalibak is indeed the same entity as the Fury's son, since her son was in theory gunning for the Parliament of the Earth at Earth's core and Kalibak appears to Barda in the tunnels instead.  But, I'm sure we'll get there.  In the meantime, Bruce and a barely revived Helena are left to heal while the powerhouses -- Kara, Lois, and Val -- head to help Jay and Kendra fight off the proto-demons.  It's becoming clear that this fight is the big one and that the ultimate fate of Earth 2 hangs in the balance.

That said, we still have some questions.  Although this war with Apokolips has been bloody, I don't entirely understand how the entire population except two million people died in it.  Though, Wilson seems to be intentionally unclear on this point; Steel notes that the people that they haven't saved "vanished."  As such, it still seems possible that Earth 2 isn't doomed, if this population suddenly appears.  (Maybe they were "lensed" by someone, put into a time/space pocket?)  We also have these mysteriously possessed ruffians active in Atom's Haven.  It seems a little late in the game to be introducing a new menace, but we'll see where we go with it.

Overall, it's a solid issue.  We've survived the era of seven or eight plots running through each issue and it's now a lot easier to get a grip on each story.  I'm again excited to see how it all ends.

*** (three of five stars)

No comments:

Post a Comment