Rating: 2/5 – Even the cover went wrong.
Earth 2 #15.1: Desaad unfortunately did not connect with me…in any way. As part of Villains Month, Desaad takes center stage in this book, and that’s the first reason why this issue just didn’t connect. I have been a reader of the Earth 2 series since it launched. James Robinson has been making the series enjoyable each and every month. Unfortunately, there’s really no connection whatsoever to the Earth 2 series. And Dessad has never been mentioned in the series before. And although I’m normally a fan of writer Paul Levitz, his work on this issue does not deliver. More on that later, but for now, let’s start with the cover.
As part of Villains Month, DC has created lenticular covers for all 52 issues. Through week one, they’ve been better than I thought they would be and it’s been kind of fun to see what they’ve come up with to show the art’s movement. This cover does not work for a couple reasons. First, Desaad’s head seems to float behind his body so it just looks off and compared to some of the other covers, there’s very little movement. Second, and what leads to a bigger problem, Power Girl and the Huntress are on the cover, but make no appearance in the book. It’s as though this should have been called World’s Finest: Desaad, not Earth 2. I’m currently not reading World’s Finest, so if there’s more to know about Desaad from that series, I’m unaware. This book has no mention of any of the Earth 2 characters that James Robinson has been writing about for over a year. That’s disappointing to say the least.
The art inside is also a let down. I’m a fan of artist Yildiray Cinar’s work, but here without an inker his art seemed flat. And unfortunately the colors didn’t add to his work. Cinar’s last Earth 2 work was in issue 13, and along with inker Rob Hunter, his art looked so much better and so much more refined. In this issue, I’m sad to say it was a let down.
Finally in regards to the story, and this may be because I have not followed World’s Finest, I wasn’t really sure what was going on. Desaad is feeding off the fear and emotions of others, and he’s after a tunneler into different worlds. He’s also investigating a comic book artist, for reasons I’m just not clear on. Overall, although I will admit I was lost for not reading World’s Finest, I didn’t expect to be lost as I HAVE been reading Earth 2. I wanted to like this issue as I’m a fan of this character from the old DC, but regrettably this book didn’t give me anything to enjoy. And honestly, this book should have been titled World’s Finest. I’m not really sure why it wasn’t…
Reviewed by: Shawn Hoklas – shawn@comicspectrum.com
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