As DC continues to release #1s of all its revamped AND new titles, I'm playing along. Here's what I've been anxiously awaiting this week.
Stormwatch #1
I have been dying for this one to come out primarily because of the characters being brought up from the DC "minors." Although I have never followed The Midnighter, I know of him. And Apollo. I feel like a Noob starting something completely new, but one thing I like about the DC relaunch is that none of them (so far) start at the beginning. It isn't a string of "Origin" comics.
In Stormwatch, a team of super powered monitors have been protecting the planets for centuries and they have discovered an alien force that is threatening the earth and has the power to defeat Superman. Their mission is to save Earth. One member of their team, The Martian Manhunter, explains that he works with the Justice League when the world needs a hero, but he works with Stormwatch when they need a warrior. And they are looking to recruit a man on earth even more powerful than Supes.
Enter Apollo, a closet case. He has tremendous power, he's even used it to fight and defeat the man of steel, but he is not interested in being a hero. He wants to be left alone to live his normal, quiet life. But Stormwatch knows his ability and knows they need him to save Earth.
This is one story I'm hoping does NOT change from the characters as they exist in Wildstorm comics, for you see, Midnighter and Apollo are a couple. Yes. Strong, masculine, male heroes. And gay. Such men do exist. And here in their own mainstream series. I'm hoping it continues to be epic.
Now, I suppose I'm being picky, but you have a headquarters lurking in hyperspace, you have technology to monitor the entire universe and you have humanoids with amazing abilities to run the entire operation. And the best names you can come up with are Angie, Harry and Adam? I guess that a world as fantastic and creative as this could have some names that are a little more unique.
I'm also not so keen on the art, but I can certainly live with it. I get really finicky when comic art borders on watercolor realism. I recognize that Alex Ross is a tremendous artist, but I do not like his for for comics. There are times in this, especially in close up details, that Miguel Sepulveda seems to be approaching that line. And then there's feet. One character is barefoot and it looks like he's walking on stumps. I recommend some practice in that area, especially if this guy is ALWAYS barefoot.
Overall, cheers for Stormwatch as a first issue. I'll continue to read even if it ends up only to follow the Midnighter/Apollo relationship.
I have been drawn to Green Arrow since early college for his Batman-like origin. He's just a guy in a suit. Avenging the death of his parents. He has no powers but does possess amazing skills. I don't know why I liked him better than Batman (maybe it was the color green or the phenomenal van dyck he always sported), but Green Arrow shot his arrow through my heart.
But making Oliver Queen look like the glamorized CW version detracts from his appeal. Don't get me wrong. Justin Hartley is one FINE specimen as a man as Oliver Queen, Arthur Curry or... Justin Hartley, but when it comes to the Oliver Queen on the printed page, he just isn't it. Disappointment #1.
Now, I've only ever followed GA peripherally, so I don't know which elements are brought from previous stories and which are part of the overall re-write. In this version, Queen Industries is based in Seattle (not Star City) and when I really got to know Green Arrow, he didn't have an "eye-in-the-sky" team helping him pinpoint crime. As I read through it, I somehow felt like I was reading a modified version of a Smallville episode. Here, his Chloe is called Naomi, although she may as well be called the Oracle or even "Angie" (Yes, the Engineer from Stormwatch). Disappointment #2.
SPOILER ALERT: The story seemed a tad bit convoluted. Green arrow is in pursuit of an awkward trio of criminals who video their attacks and post them online. He confronts them on a yacht party where they are caught and sent to prison. As he resumes life at Q-Core, the arrested criminals are broken out by a team of villains. One looks strangely like Claude Rains' Wolfman. Writer J.T Krul tried to put way too much into a far too ridiculous story. Disappointment #3.
The only other element that rubs me the wrong way, in all of the New 52 so far, is that every costume seems made of scaled (yes, like fish scales) armor. Somehow superheroes in armor seems wrong.
And finally, I lied. Yesterday I said I'd buy all The New 52 #1s in print. However, I decided there were some titles I'd test drive in digital, so I logged on from home and downloaded a few. I'll talk about them another day.
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