Written by Mark Russell
Illustrated by Stephen Byrne
Published by DC Comics
I’m just going to come right out and say it: Mark Russell is my favorite writer at DC Comics right now.
He infuses each script with humor and intelligence and he even has a bit of a social agenda. When I heard he was going to be writing the Wonder Twins I was beyond excited. And now here is the first issue.
Did it live up to my high expectations?
Actually, it may have surpassed them. It’s everything I wanted and more. The book starts us off at Morris High School. It seems pretty much like a basic high school.
There is a boring announcement that Toby, the science lab’s hamster, has died. We get to see a bit of the school administrations politics and ideas.
We get to see that the student doing the announcements is Jayna, one of the Wonder Twins. The administration doesn’t know what to do with her because she is shy. It’s a funny and pointed scene and it feels like a real school.
And then we go over to a classroom. We see that’s it’s Heritage Day at the school. A boy is talking about his Dutch heritage. And after he is done, Zan gets up to talk to the class.
Zan is the other Wonder Twin and it’s time for him to talk about what happens in his heritage.
Zan tells the class all about his planet called Exxor. There is no crime on Exxor unless people get really bored. They have no social problems. They also seemingly have no problems. This scene is Illustrated with humor by Stephen Byrne. All of the kids are asleep listening to Zan talk about his life.
Zan notices their boredom and starts to spice up his tale! There is action and intrigue! Eventually, the teacher has to stop him. It’s a very funny scene indeed.
From there, the Twins decide it’s time to get an “after school job.” So it’s literally off The Hall Of Justice! They meet up with Batman, Superman, and they explain themselves and their powers. Then came the funniest line of the year where Wonder Woman says that she is “underwhelmed.” I honestly laughed out loud.
I actually laughed out loud a lot during this book. It’s great. Russell gets the plot going by the book’s end. It has to do with where the Wonder Twins fit in to it all and it’s spectacular and handled very well. And this is the book that Stephen Byrne was born to draw. It’s excellent through and through and may end up being one of the best books of the year. It’s fantastic.
RATING: A
