EARTH

Skin & Earth #1 is the first part of musician Lights’ latest multimedia project. Paired with a concept album coming out this fall, the comic introduces us to a post-apocalyptic world in which the rich get richer and the poor are left to rot in the ruins of a city on the wrong side of a wall. The first of six issues was released this week, and each issue is meant to be accompanied by a song from the upcoming album. Lights is no stranger to comics. When she debuted in 2008, she created a comic book bio to introduce herself to the world. She called herself Captain Lights and sold the bio comic, which she wrote and illustrated herself, as merch on her tour. That spun into a 19-part animated video series with MTV. Skin & Earth is different though; it’s a whole new character and environment unconnected to her previous work. Enaia Jin is the main character in Skin & Earth. We meet her in a classroom at Tempest University, shunned by the other classmates. There’s literally a cir

The opening scene of Geoff Johns and Gary Frank’s “Batman: Earth One” Volume 2 sets the threat level and ramps up the body count in this latest installment of Batman’s early adventures. Inked by Jon Sibal, colored by Brad Anderson and lettered by Rob Leigh, this one-hundred-sixty-page adventure has plenty of action, adventure, suspense and surprise for readers of all levels of familiarity with the Caped Crusader. Johns writes a Batman (and a Bruce Wayne) who is still figuring out who to be and how to protect Gotham City. The writer infuses Batman’s first appearance with the energy and mystery pervasive in the opening scene of the 1989 “Batman” movie. The Dark Knight is equal parts urban legend and boogeyman, with criminals scared out of their minds and unsure what is truth or fiction regarding this shadowy figure roaming the rooftops and alleyways of Gotham. Johns chooses to maximize the potential of the platform, giving Harvey and Jessica Dent (they’re twins, not a couple) plenty

Sporting fifteen names on the cover credits, “Earth 2: World’s End” #26 packs twenty-odd creators inside the covers. Among those names are talents like Cullen Bunn, Daniel Wilson, Mike Johnson and Marguerite Bennett on the writing side and Eddy Barrows, R. B. Silva, and Tyler Kirkham on the art, but this might simply be an instance of too many cooks in the kitchen. “Earth 2: World’s End” #26 opens with a grandiose image from Eddy Barrows of Green Lantern (Alan Scott) unleashing the green on Darkseid. The Apokoliptian ruler is massive in comparison and crackling with energy, which visually anchors the following few pages as Scott struggles to defend the Earth against Darkseid. As the Lantern stumbles, the other heroes of Earth-2 move into action, which is fairly coherent, but — from there — the story goes sideways. It presses on towards the conclusion declared in this series’ title, but there is no direct path for the story, the characters or the reader. As should be expected when

Writer J. Michael Straczynski welcomes artist Ardian Syaf to continue the exploration and establishment of Earth One in “Superman: Earth One” Volume 3. Lex and Alexandra Luthor make their presence known and the ladies of Clark Kent’s life also check in: Lisa LaSalle, Lois Lane and Ma Kent. The most critically important member of the cast of this book is Zod-El, an exiled Kryptonian with a dark past and a hood to hide that past under. RELATED: Straczynski Delivers Strong Message in “Superman: Earth One,” Vol. 3 Sandra Hope joins Ardian Syaf, providing the inks to Syaf’s pencils. The two collaborate for some very heavy, distractingly uneven shadows throughout the book, which make Superman and other characters appear as though they are wearing partial but solid black masks. Zod’s shadowiness is at least partially generated by his hood, which stays in place throughout his time on Earth, adding mystery to his mission while cloaking his motivation. The rest of Zod’s uniform is an odd mish

The title’s ongoing Apokolips invasion storyline takes a detour again in the form of another standalone spinoff in “Earth 2” #30 by Marguerite Bennett, Mike Johnson and a roster of artists including Andy Smith, Trevor Scott, Tyler Kirkman, Cliff Richards and Thony Silas. This second post-Tom Taylor issue focuses on the origin of Earth 2’s avatars, the chosen fighters of that world’s elemental Parliament. The issue is framed within the context of the invasion but reads more like a hastily-compiled fill-in issue, cramming in the glossed-over origins of several different characters at a time when it seems out-of-place at best and totally unnecessary at worst. This issue kicks off with an impressive splash of the Parliament Enclave, albeit in a location clumsily described as “an extra-dimensional shield around Earth’s core.” From there, the art stays strong with nice layouts, polished linework and suitable colors by Pete Pantazis, but the scripting remains just as ungainly. The first seq

Recently, I read an article that described the human brain as a beach ball filled with bees; every bee is an idea that wants to move ahead in its own direction right now but, if all of them move at the same time, then none of them go anywhere, constricted by the limitations of the ball. That analogy could easily sum up “Earth 2: World’s End,” a book overloaded with ideas, plots and characters that all want to move forward by leaps but, due to page limitations, can only inch forward bit by tiny bit. With over 13 creators credited for this comic book, it’s weighed down by its numbers and the very definition of art-by-committee. There’s so much happening in this book that it’s hard to have any type of real character moment. Alan Scott gets a panel to threaten Fury for attempting to take away the soul of his lover, and even that is only posturing. Given more room, this could have been the lynchpin of the entire issue, the emotional tent pole of personal sacrifice and its effect on the l

Adolescence can be scary, but it’s even scarier when it comes with super powers in a world without superheroes. In the first volume of “Teen Titans Earth One,” Jeff Lemire, Terry Dodson, Rachel Dodson and Cam Smith bring you the Titans as you’ve never seen them before, abandoning continuity for a fresh take on this handful of teen heroes. However, despite a strong opening and solid core mystery, the graphic novel reads like an extended first issue with flat, one-dimensional characters and hit-or-miss artwork. The opening sequence is, easily, the graphic novel’s best. Viewed through the perspective of infant Starfire, the first few pages are quick, action-packed, and a little disorienting. In these pages, it’s not entirely clear where Starfire came from, or what exactly happened that led up to the crash that left her stranded on earth, but from her first person limited narrative we learn just enough for the event to be both tragic and resonant. The Dodsons carry this spectacularly, ca

Thirteen creators juggle half a dozen story threads with a surprising amount of cohesiveness in “Earth 2: World’s End” #3. Headed up by writer Daniel H. Wilson with Eddy Barrows and Tyler Kirkham among the team of artists, this issue continues to chronicle another attack by Apokolips on the multiverse’s second most popular world. A couple of surprises are tossed in that keep this issue and the storyline from feeling solely like a very small part in a series of events connecting the dots between present day and the happenings in the companion “Futures End” weekly series. Wilson takes on a tough task: making an assault from Apokolips seem like a fresh idea, after the recent storyline in the ongoing “Earth 2” series that featured an attempt at domination by Steppenwolf, who’s from Apokolips, which itself was an aftereffect of the invasion that devastated the planet years earlier after an invasion from, yes, Apokolips. The persistence of the notion is perplexing, and the writers don’t re

With fourteen creator names credited on the cover of “Earth2: World’s End” #1, DC Comics appears poised for a world record attempt or was massively time-crunched to get this book onto the shelves. From the story inside, it seems as though the latter is prevalent, especially given that the main content of this book is a rolling summary of the proceedings of over two years’ worth of action and adventure in “Earth 2.” The misguided summary labels Al Pratt as “Captain Atom.” True, his rank in the World Army is Captain, but he operates as the Atom. The android Red Tornado is given eyelashes, Green Lantern disappears mid-scene, Doctor Fate is levitating upside-down, but his cape is flowing as though he were right-side up (this one is passable, because of the magical possibilities) and Batman recognizes his granddaughter, even though he may have never actually met her. Unfortunately, it is the lack of truly new material (in addition to the uncreative reflection of stories already told in

For anyone not reading “New 52: Futures End,” it pays to know up front that “Earth 2: Futures End” #1 by Daniel H. Wilson, Eddy Barrows and Eber Ferreira does not take place on Earth 2, lest any regular readers of “Earth 2” be confused. If that appropriately confusing disclaimer doesn’t enlighten things a bit before opening this comic, though, there’s not a lot inside that will dispel much of the subsequent uncertainty afterwards, either. Wilson’s plot is relatively simple, but he and Barrows manage to bog it down with some odd pacing and ambiguous transitions from one scene to the next. It’s five years later in the DC Universe, and Terry Sloan wants to take Michael Holt out of the picture and procure a powerful Apokolips weapon from Terrifitech; that’s simple enough. The first half of the issue, though, is largely a series of awkwardly connected one-page sequences where it’s not always immediately clear whether there even is a transition or not. An early example is when Holt and his