This alternate Earth is beginning to look more attractive than Earth 1. And (finally?), as of this arc, Robinson appears to be slowing things down – enough for the story to breath a bit, to let the people in the story pace themselves. This has been exceptionally entertaining, and extremely well pencilled, inked, and colored, to boot! Thoroughly immersive!!

I think a lot of readers have referenced Dr. Fate as the Dr. Strange of the DC world – not the other way around. Probably because of Dr. Strange’s popularity as a *major* “B” character and his media history (remember: he was in a crappy “B” movie way, way back) has surpassed Dr. Fate as a *minor* “B” character.

However, when I first started picking up on superheroes, it is Dr. Fate that caught my eye first. I remember seeing him in the old Justice League of America comic books, and I really took to both him and the Red Tornado. At that point, I was probably 7-8 years old). It was likely the shiny gold mask and the bright colors in Red Tornado’s costume that lured me. My instant liking for these characters never really waned.

I did pick up on them whenever I could, but the sad thing is, they were usually pretty shallow from a narrative standpoint. They looked good standing next to Sup/Bat/GL, but never surpassed their tenure as “B”/filler characters.

The way Earth 2 is reading, it feels like Dr. Fate and Red Tornado are being groomed for a proper introduction. With this last arc, I now feel like I’m getting to know them (well, Dr. Fate, mostly) in a way I never did as a kid – to get a perspective on their proper relevance in the DC hierarchy.

Robinson’s made minor reference to Red Tornado some issues ago, one that will likely lead to a story of its own, provided we can churn a little more storytelling out of him before he leaves the book… I look forward to it, dollars in hand…