Forever Evil: A.R.G.U.S. #1 review

This event spin-off spotlights Steve Trevor, one of DC's oldest characters but rarely a popular one. He began as a dashing hero figure in Wonder Woman's Golden Age stories, but in the Silver Age was presented as a lovesick chauvinist, resulting in unpopularity with readers and his getting killed off. He came back in the Seventies and was killed off again. A parallel world version brought back some of the rootin' tootin' heroics of the original, but he was lost in the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Post Crisis, Steve was old enough to make a romance with Diana look uncomfortable, and he was married off to Etta Candy, Golden Age fun fat gal turned skinny misery.

Etta - still skinny, now black - is Steve's partner in this first issue, but it's strictly business between them, as they wander the remains of an A.R.G.U.S. building in the wake of an explosion caused by the Secret Society of Super-Villains. Etta is worried because someone has exposed their agents around the world, putting their lives at risk, but Steve seems interested only in finding the missing, supposedly dead, Justice League. Given that he's flashing back to his first meeting with Diana, and their early days together as sweethearts, I'd say his Wonder Woman obsession is getting in the way of his duty as head of A.R.G.U.S.

Still, Steve has no choice but to put the JLA on the backburner when reports come in of Deathstroke menacing the president at the White House. He gathers a team from the few operatives who survived the blast and is soon facing not just Deathstroke, but the Shadow Thief and Copperhead too.

So far, so filler. There's nothing here that progresses the Forever Evil storyline, it's just 'what's happening while more interesting things are happening elsewhere'. Sterling Gates does a very professional job with the script, jollying things along with a mix of exposition and action, and I like that Etta gets to show that her Justice League role of Steve's PA involves more than just bringing him coffee ... although she does that here too. Her 'bio-bracelet' which keeps tabs on microchipped A.R.G.U.S. agents is a nice callback to the Golden Age Diana's Omni Receiver bracelets. The exposure of the agents is a clever bit of near-topicality.

Wouldn't you know it, though, this issue's big bit of new information plugs directly into the New 52 Universe's mood of mistrust between the government and the superheroes - President Obama (for it was he) put Steve in at the top of A.R.G.U.S. post-Darkseid assault not to help the League so much as spy on it.

How very tedious. A bunch of super-powered strangers risk their lives to save your ass from interplanetary invasion, so you immediately assume they're bad news. Perhaps this book will see Steve subvert Obama's intentions, but at this point he's had five years already.

And if A.R.G.U.S. is fundamentally an anti-League organisation, why does Amanda Waller's operation need to exist?

Further evidence that this is very much a DC-Nu book comes with this piece of dialogue (click on image to enlarge).
Ooh, sex-trafficked super teens and people getting eaten by a villain. Edgy, I must buy more copies.

There are three art teams on this story - three pencillers, two inkers and three colourists - which seems pretty cack-handed given that this comic was announced months ago; surely one team could handle 20 pages? The massive cast of creatives certainly nods towards the idea that DC views event tie-ins as simply filler shelf fodder, more product to be put out there by interchangeable creatives rather than stories that demand to be told by people itching to tell them. The obvious suspicion, given what we hear lately of DC editorial changing course midstream, is that the book was changed along the way, but that's not how Gates' script reads, it flows just fine. Maybe everyone kept getting sick.

Whatever the case, Philip Tan, Neil Edwards and Javier Pina, inked by Jason Paz, Jay Leisten and himself, Javier Pina, and coloured by Nathan Eyring, Romulo Fajardo Jr and Hi-Fi (phew) produce good-looking work. Steve changes a little throughout the issue, but as some scenes are set several years ago, there's a bit of leeway. One Steve reminds me of an actor, but I can't quite say who - Chris Evans? Michael Vartan?
The sequence of Steve crashing on Paradise Island is well-staged, in terms of storm-tossed jet, culminating in one of the most attractive Wonder Woman drawings I've seen in years. If any of the artists wish to stick their hands up and claim credit ... I do wish DC would give us breakdowns of who did what pages. I'm guessing Pina.
Dezi Sienty, bless him, letters the entire issue - round of applause!

The least attractive piece of art is Brett Booth, Mark Irwin and Andrew Dalhouse's cover, with two-gun, teeth-gritting Steve coming up short against the forces of Cliche. And I don't know if Booth thought his image would be printed smaller, within a box, otherwise why place the villainous faces right where the logo is guaranteed to obscure them? Some of the other agents have distinctive looks, so perhaps we've some new characters coming; I hope so, because a writer as talented as Gates deserves a chance to do some world building for DC rather than simply being assigned to tread water in Crossover Ocean.

If you're loving Forever Evil, this could be the comic for you. It's set within the storyline and has good guys vs bad guys, and is decently crafted. Everyone else can safely pass on by.

Comments

  1. Terrible, terrible book. Great review, though.

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  2. "Etta Candy - fun fat gal turned skinny misery". Ouch! No love for the post crisis Etta then? She was a little dull. Maybe all business all the time… but misery? What'd the poor gal ever do to you?

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  3. She a right moping Minnie! George Perez did some top work! overall! but he wasn't half earnest with some of his character choices.

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  4. I reviewed this over on Adventures in Poor Taste. I think its perfectly fine and works as a nice sidestory to the whole Forever Evil event going on. However, since the issue really did not getting going until the end and the multitude of different artists on this single book, this was not the best start for this little mini.

    Now, if someone wants a good mini-series that broke out of Forever Evil, Rogues Rebellion is enjoyable. Though they need to settle on an artist as well.

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    1. I almost bought Rogues' Rebellion, but am a bit tired of the Flash villains, who seem to get more play than Barry; certainly, I feel they're better defined. I heard a review, and it sounds OK, but not for me.

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  5. No kidding, Etta Candy (Wonder Woman's old sidekick) now skinny and black! My how times have changed.

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    1. Yeah, I'd rather have an Etta who's recognisable Etta physically and personality-wise, as well as some brand new characters who happen to be non-white - right now, there's no point saying the current woman is Etta, given that she hasn't had a chance to show a sense of humour, and she's bloomin' thin. Let her be her own woman - she seems a good agent, why saddle her with a name that's an echo of a character that doesn't fit her?

      I wasn't keen on Grant Morrison's Etta either, wrong personality. Basically, I've not seen a 'proper' Etta since the Dan Mishkin days, that lass had something about her.

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  6. Nice review, Mart! This one was never on my buy list, but thanks for steering me clear just the same.

    And sex-trafficking superpowered teens? Don't sex traffickers generally prey on the powerless? How can getting on the wrong side of, say, a pyrokinetic, be anyone's -- even a slaving sleazebag's -- idea of a smart business model?

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    1. Very good point, Rob. Someone didn't think that through.

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  7. People being eaten by a villain... is DC channelling Jeph Loeb's Ultimatum?
    I'm kind of glad I'm being very picky with my DC reading in spite of being new to comics in general. I don't like unnecessary grimdark and I certainly didn't expect to find so much of it in comics. I agree that Gates deserves to be on something better - I've been reading some of his Supergirl run recently and it's excellent. They should get this man on something that won't be cancelled in less than ten issues!

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    1. Oh, you're in for some good stuff before the end of the Gates run, and if you're lucky you'll also get the Kelly Sue DeConnick issues, which were fun too. And the James Peaty rescue job after Nick Spencer was entertaining.

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  8. Good review Mart, I agree with it all. Solid scriptwork, strange art committee work, and tie-in event filler overall. However, I am a sucker for books where black-ops type human units take on 'metahumans' so I imagine I will be on for this short ride.

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    1. I'm not such a black ops fan! though I enjoyed Checkmate when I could get past the too-authentic-sounding tech talk. Drove me mad, that.

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  9. The scene with Diana discovering Steve at the crash site reminds me of Superman meeting Kara for the first time in the Silver Age stories. Hmm.

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    1. Hello shiningabyss, what a brilliant observation. You're right - suddenly I want an Action Comics #252 tribute cover!

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  10. Looking at the cover artwork, at first I really thought that was supposed to be Kirt Niedrich, aka Earth-Man, the Legion of Super-Heroes' xenophobic adversary-turned-ally who joined the team and sacrificed his life to save the universe right before the New 52 reboot. Anyone remember him? But, nope, it's actually just Steve Trevor proudly showing off his fantastic dental work.

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    1. Well, there is a recent precedent for an Earth man tribute act:

      http://dangermart.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/supergirl-23-review.html

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