Written and Illustrated by Various
Published by DC Comics
It had to happen.
Walmart has started putting out Walmart exclusive-only comic books a few months back. It only was a matter of time before Target got into the game. And so they have! Judging by their first entry though, maybe they should have avoided doing so. The stories are weak and simple and as a whole it’s not worth the time, nor the effort it took to read these.
This book has to do with putting the DC characters in a Masters of the Universe type of setting. So they patched together this comic book together in order to sell toys from this setting. The toys are out now and this is the comic book tie in.
The opening story is just sort of okay. Marv Wolfman and Scott Koblish have createda tale that features Batman on a mutated dog (Ace The Bat Hound) riding to an unknown destination. This Batman looks like a bruiser for sure. He gets into a fight with some guards. He eventually makes his way to this universe’s version is the Joker. The Joker looks to be this universe’s version of Skeletor and Batman is the He-Man substitute. The Joker makes a getaway and the mad chase begins to stop this villain!
Along the way, we meet the universe’s version of Wonder Woman.
The two fight and then team up. The story moves very quickly from there. We get to meet the universe’s versions of all the major superheroes along the way.
The tale is pretty self contained and doesn’t amount to very much.
And then, there’s the rest of the issue. It’s a little heartbreaking to read, especially because there is so much talent on this book. There is a Jerry Ordway story about Wonder Woman and Solomon Grundy that is actually the bright spot of the issue. Ordway writes and Illustrates here and it’s good to see he’s still got it. He’s one of the most underrated talents in the business and tells us a tale of action and emotion.
From there, it goes downhill.
The story about Fire and Ice written by Louise Simonson and drawn by Phil Winslade is dull and lifeless.
Simonson also writes a tale with art by Brent Anderson about Batman that fares a bit better. I wish the two had the real Batman to work on rather than this one, though.
The Joker story by Jerry Ordway and drawn by Chuck Patton is a snooze. The last story by Marv Wolfman and Keith Pollard did me in. It features the team up between Batman and Superman. The less said about that one, the better.
I was all set at that point. The only thing that helped was the wonderful pin up at the end by Michael W. Kaluta, one of my favorite artists.
The issue as a whole is a bore though and it’s a complete shame that it is. These creators deserve something better than this to work on.
RATING:D-
DC Primal Age 100-Page Comic Giant #1
is exclusively available to purchase at Target stores.
