JLA Earth 2:  Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely. Two of my most favorite comic creators. This duo tends to really step their game up when they work together. They're a recipe for a golden comic.... right?  Well, that has been the case in the past.  See: Exhibit A, B, and C.

Uh, but there's been a couple less than stellar offerings from them too, see: Item One and Two.  But it's been awhile, since I've read ones that I would rate as a miss rather than a hit...until JLA Earth 2.

Not only does this one rate as a miss, I'd rate it as an all-around dud of a comic.  In fact, there's very little I can say positively about this comic.  Here's the premise:  The Earth that all our fave Justice League heroes live on is "good" planet. Good guys like Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Batman, and all the rest, take care of the people and the planet.  Well, what if there was another Earth out there in a parallel dimension where everything was the exact opposite?!?!  Whoa!

On this anti-matter planet bad dudes like Ultraman, Super Woman, The Owl, Power Ring, and Johnny Quick are part of the Crime Syndicate of Amerika and they pretty much rule their depraved and corrupt planet with an iron fist.  So when Lex Luthor, who is a good guy on this other planet, travels across dimensions to enlist the help of the JLA our heroes have to decide if they stand for justice in our world or on all worlds.

Maybe I shouldn't have based my purchase of this one purely on the creators...had I at least read the back blurb I might have let this one pass me by. But I didn't.  I read the whole damn thing too, despite this being a wholly uninspired work from two creators who appeared to be simply phoning this one in.  The fact of the matter is, there is nothing really special about this one at all.

Morrison's plot is entirely too predictable and lacking in anything that could be referred to as an interesting plot development.  The one twist, which came late in the game, seemed like it was just thrown in there as a way of giving the story a bit more life, but it didn't really work.  I guess I could interpret this story has having a somewhat hidden message about the nature of mainstream comics and how the good guys always win, how it is a pretty much pre-ordained thing that is taken for granted.  Yeah, that's great and all, but isn't that why people read superhero comics, so they can see their heroes win?

Though I was disappointed with Morrison, I was even more disappointed with Quitely. This is easily my least favorite work of his I've seen so far.  The whole time I was reading this I got the feeling that he must have been bored with the work, because even the characters in the comic seem bored.  There's little to no life in any of these characters.  Additionally, Morrison dials up a bunch of full page and double page splashes for Quitely, who responded by delivering some incredibly dull pages of art. There's Green Lantern creating giant hand constructs that hold the moon, a tombstone, a giant space base that looks silly, and the old burnt out stand-by: heroes flying through the air.  I love Quitely's art because he has the ability to make things look fresh and new, and he manages to breathe life into his characters, but that ability is completely AWOL in JLA Earth 2.  This stuff is just flat out weak.

I wish I could say something positive about JLA Earth 2, but I really can't.  I was completely let down by this comic, and the two creators who in the past have delivered some amazing stuff.  Based what I know Morrison and Quitely are capable of, and the lack luster product they produced here, I just can't recommend JLA Earth 2.  I've come to expect far greater things from this team, and they completely failed to deliver here.  This is one to pass by.

Grade: F