Mild Mannered Reviews - Specials

JLA: Earth 2

JLA: Earth 2

Scheduled to arrive in stores: December 15, 1999

Writer: Grant Morrison
Penciller: Frank Quitely
Inker: Frank Quitely

"Earth Two"

Reviewed by: Nick Newman (NNewman8283@yahoo.com)



On the moon, three figures discuss the departure of "him". In front of them, the view screen shows a tiny craft as it circles around the sun at a tremendous speed. Suddenly the ship disappears, and heads toward Earth. The ship skids to halt in a field somewhere in North America. As two people come to inspect the crash site a being stirs from within. Luthor steps out of the capsule.

The JLA rush to help a plummeting Jet as it gets closer and closer to the ground. The League deals with the fires on board the plane as Wonder Woman attempts to keep all of the unconscious people from falling out of the plane. Superman and Green Lantern soon catch the ones that get away from her. As they inspect the bodies on the ground they find all of them to be dead. Searching the bodies they find dollar bills with Benedict Arnold on the front, and the curious fact that all of their hearts are on the right side of their body. Superman and J'onn inspect the last of wreckage, and Superman finds evidence of Luthor's involvement. In the ocean the last remnant of the KKK Southern Jet sinks into the water.

In Metropolis Luthor sits down at his desk, only to notice Superman, J'onn, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern hovering outside of the window. He opens the window, and introduces himself as Alexander Luthor. He tells the League that he is from an antimatter universe, where everything is the opposite. J 'onn tells Luthor to come with them, and Luthor removes a suit of armor from a compartment in the wall.

In the anti-Metropolis thousands of dollars fall from the sky. In his fortress Ultraman watches the fools scramble to collect the counterfeit money. Soon the economy will be in ruins again. Behind him Brainiac tells him of their failure to trace Luthor. Suddenly a man grabs the bills and yells to the crowd that they are fake. A red flash reduces the man to ashes. Ultraman flies away from his satellite, and calls a meeting of the Crime Syndicate.

On the Watchtower, Luthor explains to the League that he needs them to help for forty-eight hours in order to fix his world. Batman initially disagrees, but then concedes. They decide to take Kyle and Wally with them. Luthor raises his ship from the landing pad and the man and five heroes blast around the sun.

In anti-Gotham a man calls for Owlman to come out of the darkness. Suddenly Owlman appears and jumps past the man, slicing him across the face. He lands beside the building and exterminates another two officers. Superwoman arrives to pick up Owlman and fly him to the Crime Syndicate meeting. The two embrace briefly, and then head to the moon. On the moon Ultraman, Superwoman, Owlman, Power Ring, and Johnny Quick discuss the existence of another world to conquer. As Power Ring and Johnny Quick talk in the bathroom, Ultraman and Superwoman argue.

On the Earth the five Leaguers and Luthor walk the streets. GL stops a man from kicking a dog, but in the process reveals his powers. Worried about secrecy, the heroes move into an alley and remove their disguises. In Gotham Batman goes to see Commissioner Thomas Wayne, his alternate father. He tells him that in less than twelve hours the Crime Syndicate will be stopped. Then, dropping three flash pellets to the ground, he hurls himself out the window.

On the moon the Crime Syndicate (except for Superwoman) rush about their base. They have been trapped. Out in space, Kyle encloses the moon in giant green hands.

In Metropolis Clark Kent, wearing a fake moustache walks into the Daily Planet. After talking to a rather ugly Cat Grant, he hears Lois and Jimmy in the storeroom. Lois is Superwoman. As she changes to Superwoman, Clark leaves her a message burned into the door: "The Fortress Now".

Superwoman flies to the fortress. When she gets there she find Luthor standing alone in the dark. But as she approaches him, the rest of the League emerges. Wonder Woman punches her across the jaw and Superwoman falls unconscious. She begins to recover quickly, but Luthor solves the problem by teleporting her to the moon. Now the entire Syndicate is trapped on the moon.

Ultraman continues to hurl himself at Green Lantern's shield. On the monitors in their base, Wonder Woman's face appears. Around the world, Diana speaks to the Earth. She tells them that their days of fear are over, the Justice League is here to set them free.

Around the world, the JLA works building a better tomorrow. They talk to world leaders, repair buildings, and generally undo the works of the Crime Syndicate. In Gotham, Batman and Commissioner Wayne take back the city.

On the moon, Owlman tells the rest of the Syndicate about the plane. Twenty-four hours after an airplane disappeared from their world, a similar one appeared. The Justice League arrived twenty-four hours ago. And with that, the Crime Syndicate vanishes.

The Justice League search through the moon base, but they cannot find any clue to the whereabouts of the Syndicate. Luthor realizes where they have all gone, and they have already had ten minutes on Earth 2.

The Crime Syndicate wreaks havoc in Washington DC. Superwoman knocks over the Washington Monument, and Aquaman has scant seconds to save a pair of people trapped beneath. When he surfaces, Power Ring confronts him. Aquaman harpoons him in the wrist and hits him solidly across the jaw.

Martian Manhunter knocks Ultraman into the side of a building. He shape-shifts, digging into Ultraman's pores. As the anti-Superman lies on the ground, Superwoman offers herself to J'onn. He declines.

In a cemetery, Owlman inspects the grave of Thomas and Martha Wayne. He tells Johnny Quick that they can never win here, there is no one left to hurt.

In the other Universe, Flash runs through Ultraman's cyclotron, recharging the batteries to make the return trip home. Suddenly Luthor realizes who is behind the whole plot. Brainiac comes up behind him and knocks him down with a bolt of energy. As more of Brainiac's droids surround Luthor, Flash disassembles them in the blink of an eye. But Brainiac is still present in the space station. He plans to collide the matter and the anti-matter universes. Suddenly, Earth-2 appears on the horizon. In the skies above Washington DC, the Syndicate and the two remaining Leaguers watch as the alter-Earth looms in the sky.

The Justice League begins to realize that they can never win. Everything goes wrong in this world. Their good deeds only turn bad. Superman refuses to accept this, and flies up to the Fortress. As Superman destroys more of the robots he makes his way to the center of the station, where Brainiac is kept, a tiny robotic brain. Superman tells Brainiac that there was only one flaw in his plan. If the Justice League were to do something bad, to run away from the fight, everything would be set right. Flash charges the cyclotron enough and Superman fades out to be replaced with Ultraman. He reaches into the orb and extracts Brainiac. He then begins to torture the creature.

Back on Earth, the League watches as the other Earth slowly begins to disappear. And on their Earth, the Syndicate reassumes their role in the world. And on a street Owlman and Superwoman embrace passionately. Ultraman throws Brainiac's smoldering corpse down to the Earth. Owlman looks up: "Missed". In his fortress, Ultraman smiles.

5Story - 5: This was a great story. Morrison really went all out in telling his story of the alternate world. All of the characters were written well and the story was perfect. There isn't anything else to say, go read this book.

5Art - 5: I was really torn on this art. It is very good, but a few characters (namely Superman and Wonder Woman) tended to look older than they should. But in the final analysis, Frank Quitely did a great job, which earns this book a five.

5Cover Art - 5: I liked it a lot. The dust jacket was simple and uncluttered, and the actual cover of the book with the reverse-Earth was very nice as well.


Mild Mannered Reviews

2000

Note: Month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic was on sale.

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