Earth Two #24 – Review

By: Tom Taylor (story), Eddy Barrows (pencils), Eber Ferreira (inks), Pete Pantazis (colors)

The Story: Jimmy Olsen considers the possibility of being Batman’s best pal.

The Review: Of the several improvements Taylor brought when he took over Earth Two, the best has to be where the character work is concerned. For all of James Robinson’s talents with solo characters, he struggled with the ensemble nature of this series, rarely writing a scene of two or more characters that wasn’t plot-driven or totally cheesy. Despite his sizable expansion of the cast, Taylor has shown greater mastery over them, whether on their own or in groups.

Only recently, though, has Taylor done sustained interactions among the characters, and in this issue he seems to have found his groove through two-person scenes. Improvisers and actors may agree when I say that two-person scenes are probably the purest kind there are; any more characters require a lot of choreography and rehearsal to pull off. Of all the various pairings, Jimmy Olsen and Thomas Wayne strike the best balance of personality and drama,* which both characters have parts in generating. At Thomas’ surprise that Jimmy knows his true identity, Jimmy declares, “I can hack any system. I can basically breathe information. No one can hide from me.”

Thomas cuts to the chase. “Lois told you.”

“Yes, she did.”