Look at that gorgeous cover by Jesus Saiz. The fastest man alive and the Second World War's most famous fliers, racing towards the reader. So how disappointed am I that when Barry Allen lands in the past there are just a few speed feats and no actual flying? Not a HAWKAAA-AAA to be heard. Not at all, because there's lots of physical action and even more character action. For this is Barry Allen faced with having to break one of the basic codes of the Silver Age superhero - his vow against killing. The Blackhawks, meanwhile, are on the run without access to their famed fighter planes and wondering if they can trust the garishly garbed stranger who claims to come from the future.
J Michael Straczynski gives us another team-up as entertaining as it is thoughtful. Circumstances mean his Barry Allen can't depend on his patented super-speed feats, bringing the moral dilemma. If he doesn't accept a gun from Blackhawk, and help defend the group against Nazis, they may all die and the war could be lost. If he accepts the gun he might lose himself.
Saiz is an equal partner here, providing page after page of sumptuous work. Never mind the way he moves men and equipment across a page, I could look at his winter scenes all day. Trish Mulvihill's colours makes the linework pop, while letterer Rob Leigh gets to show off a bit on the title page before settling in to quietly ply his craft.
Apparently this comic isn't selling great guns. It should be.
Seeing as you asked nicely.....
ReplyDeleteI thought from the title on the FB page that supergirl was looking a bit beefcake, so I popped in to see the cover blown up a bit. I wish I knew more about the background of the characters you write about - often I refer to wiki while I'm reading to get their story - and I had no idea that JMS did graphics as well. How very cool! I enjoy your blogs and though I find it very hard to read these books - I just do, don't ask! - I look at what you're writing about and try to see what you mean. Sometimes I even fancy reading the whole thing. You should have a job as PR man for Marvel!
Thank you, please email Marvel!
ReplyDeleteYeah, JMS has been doing comics for a few years, some with more success than others. He's really shining in tight one-offs rather than granny pant arcs, where he tends to take the decompressed route and I get bored (eg Thor, Squadron Supreme).
Keeop Wiki-ing, you'll learn enough to get by - or I could lend you a comic or two!
I've found this book to be a lot of fun in the last year, or whenever the Green Lantern/Phantom Stranger story mercifully ended (admittedly, I didn't read it for lack of interest). But the book's work in mixing together the DCU and Milestone U characters, and now with JMS just throwing together the craziest characters he can come up with, is just like stuff we haven't had since the Silver Age. I love it, personally. I hope it catches on also. I'd really hate to see this turn into a Batman/random Justice Leaguer book.
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