DC has capped off the week with previews of Superman and Supergirl for their May relaunch of Earth 2 in the form of two ongoing series. Worlds' Finest will star Power Girl, formerly the Supergirl depicted here, along with Huntress while Earth 2 with feature a different take on the DC Trinity along with other characters from a world that seems to get a little darker with every reveal.
I've got to say -- DC really started with their best foot forward this week on the Earth 2 previews, because they sure didn't save the best for last here.
“Mourning the death of his beloved, Superman carries both a sadness in his heart along with the weight of Earth 2′s welfare upon on his shoulders, while never showing this and seeming to all that he is this world’s peerless champion,” said EARTH 2 writer James Robinson.
“What would you have to do to teach Superman to kill?” asks EARTH 2 editor Pat McCallum. “He’s endured the loss of his home world, and now the Last Son of Krypton must weather the death of his soul mate Lois Lane. Just how far can you bend the Man of Steel before he breaks?”
Apparently, there is no place in the DC Universe where Superman's marriage is safe. It occurs to me that an Earth where Superman has lost the love of his life would be more interesting in contrast with a main Earth where Superman actually has Lois, which isn't really the case anymore in the New 52 continuity. Regardless, this is another dark turn for another Earth 2 character. We have a desperate Batman, a vengeful Wonder Woman and now a depressed Superman. Who would have thought the new Earth 2 would be such a downer? DC seems to be toying with the trusty old "dark alternate timeline" concept when it comes to all this. But to be fair, that is a more concrete idea than having Earth 2 be a world that is just different because... people are old and different.
The design of Superman, from Jim Lee, does very little for me. It comes off as a rejected design idea for the New 52 Superman, because it does little but tweak Superman's usual costume. It is clever to give Earth 2 Superman a noticeably different S-shield, though. Aside from this, it's not very distinctive or interesting. There's nothing about it that gives the impression that there is really anything different about this Superman.
Unfortunately, Supergirl continues in that bland vein.
“Superman’s cousin loves her adopted world with a passion, seeing how the people of Earth have adopted her and taken her to their hearts,” said EARTH 2 writer James Robinson. “She is the definitely brightest light among this first group of Earth 2 heroes.”
“Meet the Earth 2 Supergirl, aka Karen Starr,” said WORLDS’ FINEST editor Wil Moss. “As readers of MISTER TERRIFIC already know, Karen has been busy since she arrived on the main DCU Earth, creating a successful company and dating the brilliant Michael Holt. But what are her true motives behind those actions? How did she get here? And what incident prompts her to take up her new identity of Power Girl? Find out in WORLDS’ FINEST #1!”
Supergirl is designed by Kevin Maguire, though given how closely she matches Superman's costume, that may be too strong a way to phrase it. There's an obvious attempt to call back to the character's old Power Girl look. It's a rather weak attempt, though. Seriously, it's the boob window or nothing, people. Anything else is just boring. And this, sadly, is quite boring. Again, it's nothing but a tweaking of Supergirl's usual appearance. The only thing this actually tells me about the character is that she is a little more shy about her knees than the Supergirl of the main Earth.
Has this week of previews gotten you more intrigued by the new Earth 2? For my part, the week started strongly but weakened as it went on. I was hoping to see previews of Earth 2's Green Lantern, Flash or really anyone other than those we had kind of already seen. This week has sparked some curiously in Earth 2 that I didn't previously have, but DC is going to have to work up a stronger case to get me excited for the return of the all new, yet all different Earth 2.
