Reviewer: William Cooling
Story title: Fractured World Pt. 1
Written by: Robbie Morrison
Pencilled by: Dwayne Turner
Inked by: Sal Regla
Coloured by: David Baron
Lettered by: Phil Balsman
Editor: Ben Abernathy
Publisher: DC / Wildstorm
You may or may not have heard but last month The Authority fulfilled their fan-fiction destiny and took over the United States of America in a coup launched in response to American President accidentally causing the destruction of Florida. Now we see The Authority adapt to their new found role as the rulers of America amid the twin challenges of the return of Jenny ‘s mother and fractures in the bleed.
Of these the most interesting is The Authority adapting themselves to their newfound position of power. This is the most interesting primarily because it offers the comic a change to recast itself in the current (left-liberal) political climate of multilaterialism and doubt in validity and effectiveness of purely military solutions as opposed to the Bush Sr./Clinton/Blair Liberal Imperialism of the nineties that The Authority used to represent. Unfortunately in many ways Morrison bottles it as instead he engages in Millar style left-liberal power fantasies of what The Authority could do if they were in power; to that end we get imaginative solutions to a host of problems. To be fair the drug solution is nifty but Shen and Doctor’s meeting with the “oil cartels†is an utter failure with poor characterisation, which conforms to the left-liberal belief that multinational/right wingers must be devious enough to manipulate the world but dumb enough so that they can feel superior to them. The scene also suffers from unrealistic logic, as the idea that the oil bosses would out of principal not invest in “green†fuels is ridiculous, hell they already are invested in them with (for example) BP being the largest producer of Solar Panels in the world.
To be fair he does address the burden of paperwork or of relations with foreign powers but there only ever reference as a superficial aside, with no serious development. We garner no really idea as to how The Authority actually run America aside from the fact that Hawksmoor has de facto ceased the Oval Office even go as far as to inquire why Midnighter and Apollo were in it. Apart from that we’ve got nothing, no idea as to how politics is working, if there still’s a Congress, a Supreme Court, a police force and army. Basically Morrison’s view of Superhero rule is essentially the same as the medieval court of Dr. Doom, which is a shame as the few times he dips his toe in serious political commentary he shows a knack for it. The best example of this is the reaction of the media with a good press conference scene where the press allow Hawksmoor to do his Howard Dean style posturing only to then sucker punch him with a question on his record. Then the no-BS line disintegrates as he rushes off.
The question just so happened to be about the Chinese backed reappearance of Jenny Quantum’s mother. Here is a fascinating story as not only is it one that offers a chance to develop the characterisation of The Authority but its also a problem that is unsolvable with their usual methods of action (as Midnighter quite effectively emotes). Morrison does write the scenes quite well, quickly establishing the parameters of the situation and then concisely explain the dilemmas that The Authority finds them in with a subtle and naturalistic style. Where he fails is in giving us a chance to properly see and feel the emotional impact to Midnighter and Apollo of their parenthood of Jenny being challenged. The reason he fails to this is just as Midnighter and Apollo are stating to emote he insists on introducing a typically cosmic superhero task for The Authority. What it is doesn’t matter; its generic and (here’s the kicker) we know they’ll succeed in solving it. This is why The Authority taking over the U.S.A and the situation surrounding Jenny are so refreshing as they are problems that we cannot be sure they’ll be able to overcome satisfactorily, something that we haven’t experienced with The Authority for a looong time.
What’s more the shift to more traditional Authority fare pulls the rug from underneath Turner’s feet as he had been doing so-so character/dialogue pencils with the largely static panels hiding the lack of dynamism in his work. The shift to action just forces his work back into comparison with Hitch and Quietly where it will always fail. Obviously this is Turner’s fault for not being very good but Morrison has worked with him know for almost a year, he should know his strengths and weakness and write accordingly. What’s more, the emphasis on characterisation and naturalistic problems benefits Morrison as its closer to the type of stories that he excels at telling. When he tackles naturalistic problems the literary quality of his writing shines through. When he tries to do cosmic, superhero stuff the lack of confidence, verve and dynamism is laid bare.
For much of this issue Morrison produces some strong (if superficial) writing that whilst not truly fulfilling the promise of the scenario does provide an enjoyable read. The characterisation is on the whole tight with the improvements in his writing of Apollo and Midnighter being especially welcome, indeed the only character whose characterisation is liking is Shen as her attitude on the coup changes from enthusiastic participant to doubter depending on the circumstances. However (as often with his run) when Morrison tries to appease long time Authority fans by aping Ellis/Millar it falls apart as his and Turner’s inability to create truly satisfying cosmic humdingers makes them not worth attempting. A good read with this being Morrison’s best issue of The Authority but only because for the majority of the issue he dares to do something other than Authority Volume 1.
