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JLA: Earth 2

JLA: Earth 2

List Price: $14.95
Your Price: $10.17
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: $20 is a lot to pay for toilet paper
Review: After finishing this book I did something I had never, ever done before in over 22 years of comic collecting---I returned it for a full refund. What a mess! This book is an incredibly sorry and disappointing read. If $20 is burning a whole in your pocket, pick up DC Comics Presents Annual #1 and JLA: Superpower (you may even have change left over!) for THE best Earth 2 story EVER and ONE of the best JLA stories ever respectively.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: JLA Earth 2
Review: Any JLA story by Grant Morrison is worth the money, so a graphic novel length story is enough to make fans salivate, although was it really necessary for DC to make a hardcover? It will be a shame if kids with a monthly budget of 20 dollars for comics cannot read this. Not much more can be said about Morrison's writing, but the artist was new to me. He has a style not unlike Frank Miller's pencils, in my opinion. The characterization by Grant is fabulous, and it's to his credit that the book flows even though the real JLA and the "bad" JLA never meet and fight. A great read for both JLA fans and newcomers alike, but hopefully DC will reprint it in paperback form and make it cheaper.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Worth Every Penny
Review: As a person who has read comics for over 20 years, I guess this book becomes important because of a simple theme: "What happens when you remove yourself from your natural environment?" Of course, the issue of superheroes in a world where truth, justice, etc., can never win, will always be interesting. Moreover, the dynamics are completely new, in this "different environment." Added to this is the nostalgia of the olden days of comics (Earth 2 has not been heard on for a long time.)

The author and artists desrve praise for this.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Disappointing for the money.
Review: Because I'm an old school JLA/CSA fan, I jumped at
the chance to see the Justice League square off against
Crime Syndicate once more. The storyline, however, is
predictable and dark. I much prefer the Crime Syndicate's
pre-Crisis incarnations. If you like the author and the
artist you'll probably be satisfied, but if your looking
for a classic JLA/CSA crossover avoid this book like the
plague.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Disappointing for the money.
Review: Because I'm an old school JLA/CSA fan, I jumped at
the chance to see the Justice League square off against
Crime Syndicate once more. The storyline, however, is
predictable and dark. I much prefer the Crime Syndicate's
pre-Crisis incarnations. If you like the author and the
artist you'll probably be satisfied, but if your looking
for a classic JLA/CSA crossover avoid this book like the
plague.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: How could you not love this book
Review: Before I read this book the only character's I liked in the D.C. universe was Batman(all of the batman guys like robin etc., Flash, Superman, and Green lanter. Then I read the book and I really started to like the JLA and realized D.C. wasn't so lame after all.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Return of the Crime Syndicate!
Review: Eversince I read the Crime Syndicate in Crisis and Who's Who, I was intrigued by the concept (I was a 10 year old back then), so when I saw JLA Earth 2 featuring updated versions of Ultra-Man (not the giant Japanese superhero), Superwoman, Owlman, Power Ring and Johnny Quick, I had to pick them up. They were the original ANTI-Justice League. Not the Squadron Supreme. Not The Authority.

Morrison, in reviving the world of the Crime Syndicate, sidestepped the idea of another Multiverse (which were destroyed in Crisis) by setting up the CSA Earth in the anti-matter universe, the same universe as Qward's (of Sinestro fame). Here, evil is good and vice versa. So you get the counterparts of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and The Flash as the baddies while their Lex Luthor is the lone good guy (I wonder if this is the same Christopher Atkins-looking Alexander Luthor in Crisis), To make the story short, the JL members travel to the Anti-Earth to help the good Luthor against the CSA. The CSA , in turn, head to the JL Earth to retaliate against the meddling of Superman and company.

The story is engaging and Quitely's art is solid (really solid). The way the Crime Syndicate behaves is very reminiscent of today's The Authority. That's why, I'm asking myself

My only question is, how come there are no counterparts for Martian Manhunter and Aquaman? If the creators couldn't come up with Anti-Earth counterparts, why bother including the two members? They weren't that crucial in the plot anyway.

The Crime Syndicate, precursor of those superteam-taking-over-the-government ideas, can be an excellent vehicle to tackle those "philosophical" superhero issues. Too bad, it's becoming a lot of books have had a head start (Squadron Supreme/Supreme Power and The Authority) and became such a fad nowadays (JSA Black Reign arc is a recent example). But on second thought, maybe that's the reason why DC released this.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Through the Glass Darkly
Review: For long-time fans of the JLA and the multi-verse (that's right, even though it's gone, I still believe in the Schwartzian multi-verse) this book was a revelation, albeit a dark one. I remember the days of JLA #29 and #30 (the 1964 version, I was 12 at the time) when we fans were introduced to Earth-3 and the C.S.A. Those were brighter and more innocent days, when the good guys always won out and good was better, smarter, faster, stronger, braver, and even more cunning, than evil. Does that make those days and those stories better? Can't and won't say, but "JLA Earth 2" does justice (no pun intended, well, maybe just a little) to the more realistic and gritty genre to which comic fans are subjected these days. From the day I became aware of its existence until the day I had it in my hot, anticipating hands, I could not have wanted to read a book more. I was not disappointed! The tie-ins were great; the twists unexpected and unpredictable; the wrap-up just unsatisfying enough to make a true fan want more! I hope that there is a "JLA Earth 2: Part 2" and that our Heroes can find find a way to make things work in a world where "evil" means "good". (There has to be a way, doesn't there? After all, good always triumphs over evil, doesn't it?)

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: An overall disappointment
Review: Grant Morrison tells a good story and the art by Frank Quietly was great, but it did not seem as exciting a story as I had anticipated on seeing. I love the idea and use of "evil" alternates from other worlds, but this one just didn't seem to live up to others I have read.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good is bad in the anti-matter universe
Review: Grant Morrison's run on JLA has been very enjoyable, so it is only appropriate that DC publish a special story in the graphic novel format.

The story starts with Luthor arriving on Earth - but this is not the Luthor we know, this is a hero from the anti-matter universe, here seeking the assistance of the JLA to fight the chief group of super beings on his world - the Crime Syndicate of Amerika. This group consists of Ultraman, Superwoman, Owlman, Power Ring and Johnny Quick (the equivalents of Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Green Lantern and the Flash), but each with a twist that makes them a distorted reflection.

While in many respects a rehash of classic Justice League of America stories (the original version of the Crime Syndicate came from Earth 3 and featured in a JLA/JSA crossover), the talented Mr. Morrison takes things a bit further and a bit kinkier than what was done before.

Add to this the excellent art of Frank Quitely and you have a great celebration of what made the Morrison JLA years such a classic period.

(And by the way Grant, nice reference to Animal Man p.3-4...)


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