JLA: EARTH 2

星期日當晚，慶祝母親節過後，閒來無事，就在家中隨手抽出一本美漫打發時間了。

JLA: EARTH 2，一本我也忘了何時、在哪裡買的作品，勝在夠薄，封面人物又是crime syndicate, 實在頗為吸引。於是我一邊看書，邊拆玩具，花了數小時，讀完之後，很是滿意。

故事內容嘛，我就從維基引用好了。

 Alexander Luthor, the lone hero from the Antimatter universe, breaks the barrier between Earths 1 and 2, seeking the JLA's help. He kidnaps and takes the place of his evil positive-matter counterpart. Meanwhile, the JLA investigate a plane crash where all the (dead) passengers have hearts on the right side of their bodies, and money bearing the slogan "In Mammon We Trust" and the face of Benedict Arnold. This leads them to Alexander Luthor, who informs them of the other Earth and asks for 48 hours of their time to help the oppressed world. The JLA, except for Aquaman and the Martian Manhunter, follow Luthor to the alternate Earth.

The Crime Syndicate are introduced. Each is an evil counterpart of a JLA member. Ultraman calls a meeting, discovers Luthor's absence, and begins plotting to take over the positive matter universe, while Power Ring and Johnny Quick discuss the possibility of counterparts to themselves.

Green Lantern forms a force field around the moon, trapping the CSA in their lunar base. The JLA and Luthor begin to set the world right. Batman works to clearGotham City of crime with the antimatter-universe version of his father, police Chief Thomas Wayne, who survived the famous shooting that spawned Batman while Bruce and his mother were killed. In this universe, Bruce had a brother, Thomas Jr., who blamed his father for the deaths and became Owlman out of revenge. The ruthless crime lord Boss Gordon is also brought to justice.

Owlman correctly concludes that 24 hours after the JLA appeared on the antimatter Earth, the CSA will be transported to the positive-matter Earth in order to correct a dimensional equilibrium. When this occurs, the CSA attack the White House and destroy much of Washington DC, then are easily subdued by Aquaman and the Martian Manhunter, who take down the most powerful CSA members with startling ease.

Meanwhile, the JLA's attempts to reform the antimatter Earth unravel quickly; the "opposite" nature of this world means that evil and corruption are the natural order of things and any attempt to improve the society is doomed to failure. This is also why the CSA fell so easily to Aquaman and Martian Manhunter; justice is destined to prevail on the positive-matter Earth.

It is revealed that Luthor has been manipulated by Ultraman's servant, the antimatter Brainiac. Luthor's actions in bringing the two Earths into contact will unintentionally result in the two Earths merging into the same space and destroying each other, with the JLA and CSA being powerless to stop it due to their being on Earths where they, by the nature of the respective universes, cannot win. Brainiac anticipated this and has prepared himself to collect the energy released by the destroyed Earths, evolving into an "Nth Level Intelligence" and essentially becoming a god.

Attempting to stop the collision, Superman discovers that this Brainiac is a biological organism; Superman's code against killing prevents him from harming Brainiac. Convinced now that only evil could win on the antimatter Earth, Superman and Wonder Woman refrain from trying to defeat Brainiac themselves. Flash switches the teams back to their respective Earths. Upon arrival, a vengeful Ultraman gives Brainiac a laser-vision lobotomy to ensure that he never poses a threat again. The two Earths return to their own spaces, and each team ponders their counterparts on the other side of the dimensional barrier.

其實本作的篇幅不長，但內容頗為有趣，不失是一部打發時間的好作品。

本作的重點是帶出Post-crisis的Crime Syndicate of Amerika，讓這個「邪惡版JLA」以新姿態新造型出場，算是向新讀者介紹這隊經典組合吧。基本上，這個組合中的成員，就是JLA中眾人的反面，能力大致相同，就是個性邪惡。而在這個世界中，只有一個Superhero不停的抵抗他們，希望為世界帶來正義。多麼悲壯啊，一個普通人類對抗一個大部份是超人類的犯罪組織，真是絕望。反過來說，如果DC有一個世界，只有一個無特別能力的罪犯面對JLA，真的無奈到極了。

值得一提的是，CSA所處的地球不再是Earth-3，而是Antimatter Earth，是本作中主地球JLA的反面，兩個地球都有相反的法則以維持平衡，例如在我們所認識的主地球中，邪不能勝正，行善是至高的美德；在Antimatter Earth中，正不能勝邪，邪惡與混亂才是這裡的「good」，任何Earth-2所認為的善都無法扭轉這個局面。這是個重要的原則，也是本作中劇情扭轉的重中之重。

相信大部份讀者會如我一樣，以為CSA就是本作中的大反派，會與JLA進行連場激戰，但看到JLA輕易的擊敗CSA，甚至沒有出現如Superman大戰Ultraman、Batman激鬥Owlman等皇道的正反對決，實在有點錯愕，至後來因為「平衡」問題，CSA被轉送到主地球大肆破壞，我本為主地球上剩餘的2名JLA成員Martian Manhunter和Aquaman擔心，不料他們三兩下子就打敗了Ultraman和Power Ring了。MM也罷了，Aquaman有這麼強的嗎？

及後真正的大反派Brainiac出場，說明了他的意圖，這樣我才恍然大悟，上述的劇情都是精心設計過的，完全在情理之中。Brainiac打算利用主地球的英雄在Antimatter Earth無法獲勝、CSA反之亦然的法則，使他的計劃在兩個地球中都能順利進行，在他的估計中，JLA會不惜一切地阻止兩個地球相撞的計劃，然後基於法則而失敗，還好JLA和另一邊的JSA都希望回到自己的地球，加上Flash及Johnny Quick的力量，使得兩邊人馬回歸所屬的地球，法則回復平衡，最後由Ultraman打敗了Brainiac。

看完整部作品，心情暢快，再看看封面，喔，原來作者是Grant Morrision，真的佩服他這次能夠運用到正反世界的特點，然後以「平衡」、「法則」作為故事的twist，使本作雖短，但卻言之有物，劇情緊湊合理，我實在很滿意。不過，這也不是人人認同的「合理」，原因是Earth-2的法則真的是「邪不能勝正」嗎？這是可圈可點之處。此外，在Atimatter Universe中，邪惡才是主流，那麼Earth 2 JLA不知就裡地以自己的價值觀，套用到另一個世界中，協助那裡的「bad」Lex Luthor，是否一種自以為是的價值觀侵犯？有意思。

至於畫家Frank Quietly，畫功也很紮實，我沒有特別挑剔的地方，唯一教我有點不滿的只是他筆下的女人都長著男人臉，Wonder Woman慘變Wonder Man，Super Woman，自然就是Super Man。好啦，不好笑。

此外，本作中的Green Lantern和Flash分別是Kyle和Wally，故本作很明顯是設定在緊接元祖Crisis之後，這個組合，尤其是Aquaman鐵勾船長的造型，實在很有復古味道，當然本作的分鏡和上色都已是千禧年風格，讀來不會覺得老土，很容易入口。

不過自己近來少看美漫，英語水平大倒退，一本短短的漫畫也花了不少時間閱讀，希望能夠多看多讀，減少閱讀時間，多看幾本好作品了。

80分。

PS Thomas Wayne Jr. a.k.a Owlman雖然很憎恨父親Thomas Wayne Sr. ，認為他要為母親和弟弟Bruce之死負責，但當他到了Earth 2，還是第一時間走到Wayne Mansion外，見到「父親」的墓碑，還是釋然了，可見他雖然擁有邪惡的個性，卻還是個重親情的色情狂。下次再與Super Woman當街動手動腳就要被Ultraman燒__袋了喔。

PS2 本作的標題JLA: EARTH 2有需要作較仔細的拆解。在Crisis on Infinite Earths之後，並在2005年的Infinite Crisis之前，這20年間DC漫畫是沒有多元宇宙的概念的，故此本作作為2000年的產物，故事中只有New Earth 和Anti-Matter Earth，標題指的Earth 2就是後者，作者也不是為Anti-Matter Earth特意編碼，只是想突顯出「第二個地球」的概念。在2005年之後，多元宇宙復活，那千萬不可把本作中出現的Anti-Matter Earth當作Earth-2。