Writer: Judd Winick
Artist: Ian Churchill
Inker: Norm Rapmund
Colourist: Edgar Delgado
Publisher: DC Comics
Let’s get one thing clear. This is a superhero comic.
In every conceivable way, everything you might think a ‘superhero comic’ might entail… Yup, this is it. More accurately, it’s a team book. Even more accurately, it’s an origin story (or re-origin, technically) for a team with a past stretching way back into DC lore.
And, let’s be clear, it does everything competently. The art is nice, especially with those art-deco-y Tony-Harris-esque circle and diagonal panels (although, when did Gotham get so sparkly clean and colourful?) if suspiciously 90s. The dialogue is (mostly) nice, and Winick seems to have a nice enough handle on the characters, from what I know of them (which is not much, except the cartoon). There’s a lot of bouncing around, and kicking, and swords going through stuff. And just a little bit of extraterrestrial T&A. So it ticks all those ‘superhero comic’ boxes.
But…
…It’s fan service, ultimately, for a thing I ain’t a fan of. Note the repeated use of “nice” above. Which is not to say I’m against it. I just have no clue of its (illustrious, I’m sure) history. Exhibit A: The storyline is titled “The Fickle Hand, Part Two”. This resulted in me confusedly flicking back to the cover and tracing the number one very carefully with my finger, and then counting on my other hand until I ascertained that there were no numbers before one.
For fans, this is probably the good stuff. You’ve probably been waiting forever. Probably. Who am I to know?
Rating: 5/10
