Written by Brian Michael Bendis, Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad,
Geoff Johns, Phillip K. Johnson, Joelle Jones, Tim Sheridan,
Scott Snyder, Geoffrey Thorne, James Tynion IV, Joshua Williamson
Art by Stephen Byrne, Jamal Igle, Jorge Jimenez, Joelle Jones, Alex Maleev,
David Marquez, Alitha Martinez, Todd Nauck, Howard Porter,
John Romita Jr., Rafa Sandoval, Dexter Soy, John Timms
Published by DC Comics
It is now that time that comes around every five years or so! DC Comics is redoing their company initiative yet again. I actually don’t mind when this happens as it makes it easier as a reader to start fresh. That is exactly what happens in this comic here. This is a great springboard to jump on some series that are coming out soon!
There is a framing sequence for this comic written by Joshua Williamson, Scott Snyder, and James Tynion IV. This shows a bigger thread between all of the stories.
Or tries to.
It is decent enough, if a tad arbitrary. The artwork is by John Timms, and it is very nice.
Then, we get into the stories themselves.
First up is Justice League, written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by David Marquez. Honestly, it is such a a quick glimpse that I reserve judgment for later. The same can be said for the Batman portion written by James Tynion IV and drawn by Jorge Jimenez (although this one feels like just more of the same).
It is then that I realized that this comic isn’t really a full story.
It is really just a primer for all the upcoming DC books. And while that is perfectly fine, it doesn’t feel like a complete book.
There are some lame looking forthcoming books, notably Teen Titans Academy, written by Tim Sheridan and drawn by Rafa Sandoval. The two Green Lantern stories look okay at best and the Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl stories seem directionless.
But there are bright spots, most notably the Superman story by writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson and drawn by Jamal Igle. This one is quite excellent and has a lot of power in it’s short story.
The Stargirl story written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Todd Nauck is very good as well and it is probably the most complete story in the issue.
Writer Joshua Williamson also pens a few good stories.
There is a nice Green Arrow and Black Canary story drawn by Alex Maleev that is really great. He also writes the Flash story, drawn by Howard Porter and the epilogue drawn by John Romita Jr. There is a nice surprise villain at the end that appears.
This gives me hope that this could be a nice turn for DC. Overall, this is pretty good. Let’s see where we go from here.
RATING: B+
