EARTH 2 #27

[ GRAB A COUPON, GRANDDAD ]

In the month of October, 2014, DC Comics will garnish their covers with a monstrous piece of artwork. Tom Taylor will acknowledge this fact by playing dominoes with Andy Smith. Where as Timothy Green will stand there, patiently, and await for his turn next. You have been duly warned.

To QUOTE Euripides: 'One loyal friend is worth ten thousand relatives'.

THE STORY:

Hey guys and girls. It's Lois Lane here. And as you're more than probably aware of we've got a right die-hard situation on our hands.

Recently a group of mutants from Apokolips have made their way into a Hadron Collider -- situated in Switzerland -- and have somehow managed to pervert its core.

So what I want you to do, it to split up into two teams of two -- Helena and Thomas can be 'Team Wayne', where as Kara and Val can be 'Team Supes' -- and then you have to try to put a stop to this mess once and for all.

Oh! And while you're at it. Try to make friends, will ya? It's been a long time since this book ended on a happy note.     

THE GOOD:

No matter what crap I may come up with down below, please allow me to start off my review by saying that I did love reading this issue. From my point of view it was a smashing read which was very cleanly illustrated by Andy Smith and Marcus To, plus complemented with a story-line that was a mixed bag to say the least.

You see, on the surface this adventure is about a group of heroes who try to save a Hadron Collider from going Ka-Booooieeeee! Underneath that, though, this story is about re-defining the relationships between two sets of the new Worlds Finest heroes. On the one hand we have a new Superman plus a fairly new Power Girl who obviously seem to like each other. Where as on the other hand we have an old Batman and a fairly pissed-off Huntress who obviously don't.

So what do you do to rectify matters? Yes. That's correct. You stick them in a perilous situation and hope for the best. And did we get the best? No. Not really. But we did get a nice stepping-stone story that had a couple of nice revelations that helped it on its way.

Bless.

THE BAD:

As much as I did like reading the majority of this adventure, there was one thing about it I personally wasn't too fond of. Now without giving too much away, nearing its conclusion there was a multi-faceted sequence which kind of defined the moral of this story. And to me, this sequence felt fairly cheesy in tone. As if it was the ending to a sit-com -- like 'Happy Days' for instance --  or some other tele-visual throwback from yester-year. One in which I could easily envision the end credits role, whilst some sappy song plays in the background.

Of course, with this being a more personal stand-alone story-line, I was hoping that it would have a more rhapsodic and poignant ending. Just something that would make you feel for the characters rather than sit back and see what's coming up next.  

Also, something else about this tale I wasn't very keen on was how the whole thing felt fairly staged in execution. Setting up the premise and then finishing it off in one fowl swoop.

THE MUSIC:

Well? As I've already compared this issue to Happy Day's. How about I do just that once again? So it's over to you, Mr C, Ms C, Fonz, Chachi, Ralph, and the rest of the gang. With this your 60's inspired theme tune.

THE COMPARISON:

If you think about it for a moment, my friends, a large chunk of this adventure was dedicated to setting-up and resolving an old family feud. So how about me comparing it to precisely just that? An old family feud, albeit, a more colorful one.

THE CONCLUSION:

Now as you might have gathered by now, a fairly sizable portion of this plot was dedicated to Helena and Thomas Wayne sorting out their differences. Kind of. So just for fun, can you guess what single phrase Helena uttered to her Grandpa out of the following eight options?

1. Screw the Hadron Collider! Where's my forgotten Christmas present's you old drugie?
2. I am not alone. I have a family. It isn't you.
3. Are you kinky or what, Bat-freak?
4. You can't talk to me like that you dopey perv.
5. If you ask me to pull your finger, I promise I will pull something else, you got it?
6. Hey, Gramps! Do you think Kara and Val are going to bang each other anytime soon? If so, I need your earplugs.
7. You're no relative of mine. Most of my relatives stood for something without any medical assistance.
8. Did you like watching that 'Gotham' television series they have on at the moment? Personally, I think it's as muddled as a ball of string.       

Nuff said.