The End League, Vol. 2: Weathered Statues

The End League

by Rick Remender, Eric Canete (Artist), Andy MacDonald (Artist)

Writer Rick Remender continues his acclaimed new series, joined by fan-favorites Eric Canete (Iron Man) and Andy MacDonald ( War Journal), for an all-new storyline, "Weathered Statues." After the shocking events of the previous volume, in which half the cast was lost, Black and Arachnakid risk everything to take their revenge on the Smiling Man in his twisted city of Lore. Across the world in New Berlin, the fascist Wolfsangel puts a bounty on the remaining heroes in order to obtain the one item he requires to snatch lordship of Earth from Dead An altruistic heart.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels

152 pages, Paperback

First published April 22, 2009

About the author

Rick Remender is an American comic book writer and artist who resides in Los Angeles, California. He is the writer/co-creator of many independent comic books like Black Science, Deadly Class, LOW, Fear Agent and Seven to Eternity. Previously, he wrote The Punisher, Uncanny X-Force, Captain America and Uncanny Avengers for Marvel Comics.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the worst thing I've read in a while. The confusion of volume one carries over to volume 2 and is amplified by Eric Canete's sloppy, wannabe Aeon Flux art. I couldn't tell you what is happening in half the panels in this book. The splotchy and drab coloring only adds to the confusion. Truly awful.

[Cale · Rating 2 out of 5]

So what do you do once you've killed off half of your Marvel/DC character analogs including Superman? You grab a Batman and Joker pairing, stuff it with a twisted version of Captain America and make them the central conflict in an even less interesting follow-up. Everyone is looking for Thor's hammer and a soul pure enough to wield it. There are too many plots going on here, and none of them is given enough attention to really be interesting. Although the Smiling Man gets a surprise that, while somewhat predictable, at least makes sense in the world of the story. Ultimately, for a series that focused so much on despair in the first volume, the number of cop-outs this volume throws up (and the surprisingly low number of character deaths in contrast to the first volume) kind of makes it feel like Remender copped out on his original idea. And throwing time travel into the mix just makes everything worse.
There are a few interesting ideas here, a couple decent character moments, and some grand ambitions. I think ultimately it's extremely flawed, and I can't recommend the series to anyone except perhaps the most die-hard Remender fans. It never seems to nail its tone, and what redemption it provides at the end doesn't feel earned. I honestly would have rather see them all die - it seemed like it's what they wanted and deserved. But not even the readers get what they deserve with this series.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An improvement over volume one as Rick Remender comes much closer to hitting the goals he announced he set out to achieve. Take superhero archetypes and put them on a LOTR type of quest on a nearly destroyed Earth. A couple of nice plot turns, not quite good enough to call twists, and an interesting take on the Epic Warrior Heroine and Captain America archetypes.

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly I read Vol. 1 so long ago I couldn't remember what had happened. And it's Rick Remender, so it was a bit over my head anyhow. But it was still a pretty cool end-of-the-world scenario with some good plot twists, and it was fun to see Remender's versions of all the superhero tropes.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collects The End League issues #5-9

This book has some interesting concepts, and I liked seeing analogues of well-known DC and Marvel characters, but whereas the series had a strong start, it went downhill during the last half of the series.

[Paul W. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Aggressively bad. I had to force myself to finish this. The story is all over the place, with time travel and alternate dimensions. Ugh.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

It all comes full circle. A very dark tale of how the end of the world is averted.

[Afa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Untuk sebuah siri mini, buku ini terlalu padat dengan watak. Agak baik pada buku pertama, tetapi buku kedua menjadi mess up akibat perubahan pelukis. Ini adalah buku pertama saya melihat karya Eric Canete. Beliau cukup prolifik melukis stylized characters, dengan pose-pose yang dinamik, sesuai sekali untuk pin-ups mahupun covers. Tetapi untuk sebuah cerita genre aksi, saya terpaksa angkat bendera putih. Clarity tidak berapa diutamakan (saya tak salahkan beliau), sekaligus buat saya gigit jari mengenangkan buku pertama yang sudah dimulakan dengan agak baik. Di sini saya terpaksa menegaskan kepada diri, yang ini bukan manga (yang akan berlanjutan sampai beberapa jilid buku) tetapi komik US. Peleraian konfliknya tidak mudah dan apa-apa cerita melibatkan rentas masa kehadapan dan lampau, saya tahu ia akan ada paradoks masa. Boleh diterima sebagai penamat yang sebenarnya permulaan.

[Roman Colombo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, the story is still pretty enjoyable, but it it becomes bogged down by the Marvel and DC references, almost to the point where it becomes a glorified fan fiction. I'm fine with fan fiction, but this was presented as original. And I was even okay with most of it, but the ending is completely taken from a Superman story (won't say which) and at some point, it's like you have to know who the Marvel/DC counterpoints are to get the story. I get what Remender was trying to do--it's very much like Watchmen, but it doesn't have the same depth.

[Matt James · Rating 2 out of 5]

The mess that was Volume One still bleeds over to this but the pacing is much better. The jargon is ridiculous in spots but the heroes are identified better, the terrible Super names are used less but still leads to confusion switching to alter ego first names of characters that haven't been around for years or adequately developed. Locations start to make more sense near the end but long flashbacks without any mention of time make for a very sloppy and confusing middle.

[Drew · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book felt like a complete mess by the end of it. Whether that was the time I took between books, the fact that the art is completely different from the first volume (its close to unreadable), or that the story takes more twists and turns than was required.

[Emilio Ladetto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un gran final para esta serie que me mantuvo atrapado todos los números, no me gusto la salida de Mat Broome, Eric Canete y Andy MacDonald no estaban a la altura del anterior artista, de todas maneras la historia habla por si sola.

[Maarten · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one made so much more sense. Way better than Vol. 1

[Trey · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's fitting that the payoff of a book filled with so many analogues of famous comic book characters rips off the ending of Red Son.

[Ben Langdon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Better than the first volume but I still wouldn't recommend it. The art is okay but the story is overwrought and unoriginal.