Earth 2 #26 Review

Spinning heads.........

 

The ending to the Dark Superman saga is here. And despite some nice material, the ending doesn't stick.

Taylor has continued to craft an incredible Earth 2, full of original characters that deserve our attention.

Scott's final work on this book is good yet inconsistent.

SPOILERS FOLLOW………….

No, sorry there’s no Power Girl in this issue as the misleading cover disease continues to spread and grow (and why do you need to draw Kara like that!).

Poor Jimmy. Freshly out of a prison, he’s witnessed massacres and patricides all ready.

In the aftermath of Jonathan Kent’s death and the destruction of the Kent farm, Red Tornado Lois comforts a grief-stricken Martha Kent and then leaves to stop the rampaging Dark Superman.

Elsewhere, Green Lantern Alan Scott’s efforts to stop the transfer of Earth to Apokolips are failing as Queen Marella of Atlantis arrives on the scene.

There are hints of a romantic alliance between Marella and Thomas even as they discuss how to side-step the Parademons and destroy the transferring device.

Dark Superman and Val-Zod size each other up until Zod lets slip that they’re actually stalling him so that the Boom Tube can be destroyed. Superman attempts to leave but is stopped by Lois, who manages to make him hesitate long enough so that Val can draw him off course.

Zod receives one of the universe’s strongest punches to the face as a crater is created in the middle of the battle, leaving the Flash Jay Garrick and Marella an opening to reach the device.

Bedlam, the Apokoliptian soldier tasked with making the Earth Prime and 2’s Mr Terrific’s busy with the Boom Tube,  is taken out when Marella shifts the water in his brain, causing him to have a stroke.

The god’s grasp falls long enough to enable the two Terrifics’ to destroy the Boom Tube, while Dark Superman starts breaking apart when coming repeatedly in contact with Zod.

It is revealed that the ‘Superman’ is actually an imperfect Bizarro clone that breaks down when it comes in contact with pure Kryptonian DNA. Lois creates a tornado that reduces the cracked Superman to dust.

This felt like an easy out to dealing with an actual Superman gone mad. Also, this twist somehow fell into bad M. Night Shyamalam territory as there were almost no hints that this was an experiment gone wrong instead of the actual thing.

Anyway, elsewhere, Bedlam manages to regain control of Sloan and Terrific as he manages to reach the Apokalyptian rearguard of Big Barda and Fury.

SPOILERS END…………..

The ending to this arc felt like too much of an easy way out, but thankfully the rest lived up to it’s potential.

Taylor juggles multiple characters so well that even a single plot thread doesn’t go wasted. And this is a good last hurrah for Nicola Scott, who provides some strong through inconsistent visuals.

So, I give it 7.0 out of 10.

+Some nice character moments

+Strong visuals

-A very underwhelming ending

-Inconsistent artwork