Review: Earth 2 - The Tower of Fate

Having been spirited away to another dimension, the Flash must work together with the newly minted Doctor Fate in order to rescue his mother from the clutches of the nefarious sorcerer Wotan. Then, Green Lantern seeks out Hawkgirl’s help in investigating the death of his fiancé.

Earth 2 Volume 2: The Tower of Fate collects Earth 2 #0 and 7-12, written by James Robinson and illustrated by Nicola Scott.

This trade opens up with the prequel comic Earth 2 #0, which provides exposition for the (apparent) Big Bad Terrence Sloan. As one of the original wonders, he betrays Earth’s heroes and commits a grievous crime before eventually being appointed as the head of the World Army. It’s an issue that provides some much-needed context for the character, but is largely diversionary and does little to actually establish the origins of Earth 2’s heroes (which is what the New 52 #0 issues were intended to do). The art is provided by Tomas Giorello, whose style isn’t quite as detailed as series regular Nicola Scott.

When we return to the present, we meet Khalid Ben-Hassin, a young Egyptian man who is struggling to accept his fate as the vessel for the ancient mage Nabu. He is reluctant out of fear of losing his sense of self in this new mantle. In the midst of this personal crisis, Khalid is forced into battle against Wotan after the sorcerer kidnaps the Flash and his mother. The Tower of Fate thus functions as a neat character arc for Khalid and examines the themes of identity and insanity. It also serves to further develop the Flash and establishes him as the runaway star of the title (pun intended). Jay’s growth from screw-up to full-fledged hero makes him relatable and easy to root for. The dynamic he has with his mother is also quite touching and adds an additional layer to his character.

As far as villains go, Wotan is a step up from Solomon Grundy. His motives are flimsy, but there’s at least an attempt made to establish a history for the character. Wotan is a fairly standard vengeance-seeking antagonist who is further motivated by the pursuit of infinite power. I do wish a more credible and personal vendetta had been established between Nabu and Wotan in order to better solidify the mad sorcerer’s centuries-old grudge as what we got was a bit lazy. Robinson also fails to develop Hawkgirl any further. She gets a couple of great scenes, but aside from that she’s largely absent from the action throughout this arc. As the only female wonder, the optics of her exclusion is really bad. What we do get of her I love, so we really need more.

The Tower of Fate is a satisfying continuation of the Earth 2 line. I appreciate the fact that it furthers the diversification of the (mostly white) JSA cast and brings them into the 21^st century. Khalid Ben-Hassin is a great addition to the cast and is shown to be quite complex as a character. The story itself is entertaining and features a lot of great action sequences. As always, Nicola Scott’s art is on point and is a major selling point for this title. That said, given how small the cast is, I wish that Robinson would spend more time actually developing these characters. He does excellent work on Jay and Khalid, but everyone else falls to the wayside. Of course, the Steppenwolf subplot is really intriguing, especially with the usage of Fury as his right-hand woman. It’s not difficult to become invested in this world and to wonder how Robinson and Scott will further reinvent the JSA, so The Tower of Fate is still a great read for that reason alone.

RATING: B