Authority Volume 2 #1 Review

Archive

Reviewer: Jesse Baker
Story Title: Reality Incorporated Part 1

Written by: Robby Morrison
Penciled by: Dwayne Turner
Inked by: Sal Regal
Colored by: Dave Baron
Lettered by: Rick and Jason at Comicraft
Editor: Ben Abernathy
Publisher: Wildstorm/Eye of the Storm (DC Comics)

The story of the rise and fall of “The Authority” is one that has been debated, argued, and dissected repeatedly on the internet. The cliff-note of this sordid affair of homophobia, censorship, blacklisting, and corporate cowardice is that Paul Levitz and the rest of the suits in charge of DC Comics found themselves ashamed of the comic that revolutionized the super-hero genre due to it’s graphic violence and the fact that it’s two main male characters were lovers who defied the stereotypical comic book homosexual clichés that DC Comics prefers to showcase, as seen in the pages of Green Lantern. At the height of the book’s popularity, DC Comic’s top brass began to systematically tear the book apart and bury it at the height of its popularity.

It started small, when DC ordered the cutting of a panel from the Jenny Sparks mini-series that showed Apollo and Midnighter kissing and changed artwork in Authority #14 regarding a Captain America doppelganger who sexual assaults Apollo after beating him in a one-on-one showdown. But soon it started to snowball. Series artist Frank Quitely was headhunted by Marvel without a fight to keep the artist on the book by DC. Series writer Mark Millar had his stories forcibly altered due to supposed unacceptable content, and was blackballed from ever working at DC or any of its imprints again when he went public with what was going on. Replacement artist Art Adams found his artwork came under much scrutiny as DC hounded him with demands of changes to his work, delaying the book even more and ultimately forcing the ultra-slow Adams to quit Authority, forcing Wildstorm to have to find a replacement artist to replace their replacement artist for the final issue. The planned Authority “Widescreen Special” that was set to feature the return of former Authority artist Bryan Hitch was shelved when DC execs began demanding changes to the script which Hitch refused to go along with. Finally the book was cancelled with the publication of Millar’s final issue and the two-part Garth Ennis story that was supposed to run immediately after the Millar run was repackaged as a special.

It looked like the Authority was dead for good. But now the book has returned, with a new #1 and creative team as part of the Mature Audience “Eye of the Storm” line. But would this be a castrated, watered down version of the Authority? Or would DC Comics learn from their PR disaster and let the Authority be the Authority? The answer to this burning question is yes and no.

On one hand, new writer Robbie Morrison has been granted the rights to at the very least portray Midnight and Apollo as lovers as opposed to being forced to make no mention of their relationship. Apollo and Midnighter are shown in the same bed together and kiss during an interlude sequence and have a cute moment when Baby Jenny Quantum pops into their room, sits down right between the two lovebirds, and ask to be allowed to watch cartoons on their television. This is the type of scene which would never of been allowed under Millar, which goes to show that DC might be ready to get over their hate of the two characters and let the writers write them without having Levitz standing over their necks telling them what they can or can not do.

On the other hand, the main story is pure crap despite the sliver of hope presented at the beginning. At the start of the issue, we see the Authority playing clean-up as they take down a group of survivors from the terrorist nation of Gamorra who have set up their own independent crime syndicate dealing in slave trading, drug trafficking, and gun-running. After beating them up, the Authority launch another “Shock and Awe” type attack on the country of Gamorra to remind them who’s boss, and then get publicly denounced on the evening news by Ben Santini (leader of Stormwatch: Team Achilles) who rightfully condemns the Authority for the haphazard and selfish ways they carry out their duties.

After this good start and the enjoyable Midnighter/Apollo interlude, the issue goes straight into the toilet as alien invaders from a parallel earth have attacked, on the orders of a group of talking heads floating in space who gloat about how they run things, not the Authority. A good storyline about the Authority dealing with the aftermath of their shoot-first and ask questions later attitude (something that Micah Wright went into great detail to examine during the Authority’s recent guest appearance in Stormwatch) is abandoned for generic parallel earth villains who the Authority can beat up. This is a bad sign for the book which has, as part of the book’s signature trademark, dealt with topical subjects in terms of storylines. By replacing the political villains and rogue nations with invaders from Earth-2, the stories lose their impact and become just generic violence with no substance to them.

On the art front, Dwayne Turner does a rather bad job doing the art, which looks generic and grainy. It’s like something out of an early 1990s Marvel book, which doesn’t mesh well with the ultra-streamlined artwork of Hitch and Quitely. Again, not a good sign for the book’s relaunch if the art in the book looks like it was rushed and lacking of any of the detail and grandiose backdrops of the previous volume.

In terms of relaunching, this is a bad one but not as bad as other recent high-profile comic relaunches, such as the Hulk or Spiderman. But bad art and lazy writing which leans towards the direction of generic invaders do not bode well for the title which for a short time totally changed how super-hero comics were.