Jesus effing Christ, this issue is somehow the worst one yet.
We have a moment here where the heroes of Earth are assembled one last time. While Batman and Dick fight off the proto-demons swarming Atom's Haven and Kara, Val, and Lois soar (and presumably fight more proto-demons) in the sky, Jimmy Olsen sends Hawkgirl, Helena, Oliver, Sato, and Steel into battle against Kalibak and his troops. (Also, the Court of Apokolips is allegedly in play, though we don't ever really see them.) Flash joins the group, after a heartbreaking conversation with his mother where he tells her that he has to leave her to possibly die alone if he has any hope of saving her. Similarly, the ghost of Sam tells Alan that he has to surrender his humanity so that the Parliament can take over his body fully.
(On a practical level, this moment makes little sense. Alan has previously told us that he had used all the Parliament's powers in trying to shield Earth from Apokolips; his revival has only come through his access to the power of the Greens of the multiverse, since he was near the dimensional lenses that Sloan used to bring through all the other rescue ships. It's also not explain why his humanity is preventing the Parliament or the multiversal Green (whichever one it is) from using his body as a tool. (Heh.) But, it's still the emotional height of the series, and I admit that I felt actual sorrow for Alan as he sacrificed himself to give the Parliament a chance to stop Darkseid.)
At this moment, we have the hope of a real final battle for Earth. In fact, we even have some hope that people will survive, as Alan starts using his power to individually evacuate people.
But, then, it falls apart entirely. Suddenly, it's inexplicably only Batman, Dick, Flash, Green Lantern, and Val facing Darkseid. A flash of light occurs and, based on conversations that happen later in the issue, they might all die in this moment (presumably from an Omega Beam). Meanwhile, Helena, Jimmy, Kara, Marella, Oliver, Sato, and Steel are inexplicably (again) on the evacuation ship. Even Jay's mom is there. Then, it's just over. Apokolips has apparently won. One moment, Alan is fighting Darkseid; the next moment, he's meditating to evacuate people. One moment, the heroes are all in action; the next moment, some of them are magically on the evacuation ship and the rest are dead. Kendra tells Jay's mom that he died a hero, they turn off the lights, and we're told to read "Convergence" #1. It's is the worst concluding issue to an event that I've ever read (and that's saying a lot).
As I opened this issue, I was considering getting "Convergence." "Earth 2" was my favorite series of the "New 52!" for a long time, and I feel committed to a number of characters here. In fact, I was actually excited about "Earth 2: World's End" ending, because we could finally get the sort of character development that we've been denied too long in this series due to the focus on the fight with Apokolips. But, this ending is so bad that it just sapped my excitement for the entire setting. I honestly just feel like calling it a day and saving the money. It was that bad. I can't believe, after six months, I'm left here.
zero of five stars
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