Robinson steps away from what’s now the cliché of a manifestly overzealous US military only able to consider destruction by applying the same mindset to a global organisation. Contrasting the arrival of the superheroes is the military mindset. Flash’s origin here being a variation on Hal Jordan acquiring Green Lantern’s powers is just one example.

The Gathering is a clever story, one that reads well enough for anyone completely unaware of any DC history, but constantly throws in references for those who do. Because colour is important to the story, a sympathetic touch from Alex Sinclair is needed, and his juxtaposition of green and grey creates an effective combination for an important scene.

It more than balances a few wonky figures. She’s not quite the phenomenal artist she’d be a few years later, but is very, very good, and puts in an astonishing amount of work in creating full scenes viewed from a distance, heavily populated and with a lot going on.

Presumably at Robinson’s behest Nicola Scott peppers the art with small visual references, possibly indications of what’s to come, possibly just Easter Eggs. Hawkgirl is more of a mystery, and all the way through Robinson provides glimpses of other people with names or personalities some readers may find familiar. Both are warned against trusting people and that their Earth faces an impending danger even greater than an invasion from Apokalips. As seen on the sample art, just after leaving college the recently jilted Jay Garrick becomes the Flash, while broadcasting executive Alan Scott endures a tragedy to channel the power of the Earth itself. Robinson, cleverly, just makes his new heroes younger, updated versions of that 1940s generation, but alters the circumstances of their origins while still producing roughly the same characters. For fans with long enough memories, Earth Two had traditionally been the assigned home of DC’s 1940s superheroes, to differentiate them from their then more modern counterparts introduced in the 1950s and 1960s. It turns out there weren’t any other superheroes.Īfter that prologue James Robinson jumps forward five years and sets about introducing new superheroes. It also explains the lack of Robin and Supergirl (see Worlds’ Finest), and the cost of defeating a Parademon invasion from Apokalips. Earth 2’s major difference is that there is no Batman, Superman or Wonder Woman, as shown in the opening chapter. When DC reintroduced the concept of multiple Earths in 2011 it opened the door again for alternate histories, places where DC heroes operated, but not those we knew.

Earth 2, Vol. 1 by James Robinson