On Earth 23, a mysterious shuttlecraft crash lands in the corn fields of Smallville, carrying a bigger mystery; the Justice Society take on Extant and Alan Scott and Obsidian go to meet Jade. We also have a scurrilous meeting between Cameron Chase and Director Bones and a coffee shop where a group of people are remembering certain things about the end and restart of the universe, watch by a once dead red head. Finally, you have Barry Allen Flash getting up to no good as he seeks to map out the Multiverse. For a first issue, there is a lot going on.
Joshua Williamson, of The Flash fame, crafts a first issue that makes no bones of the fact the Multiverse exists. By doing so, we get President Superman, a swathe of Earths in snapshot form along with Captain Rabbit, an Aqua Woman and a disheveled and surprisingly alive Flashpoint Batman. Williamson is perhaps the perfect writer for this run. Whereas Scott Snyder made his mark on Batman, and therefore his event books tend to be Batman focused; Williamson is from the Geof Johns school of writing, especially given his run on The Flash. With the exception of Thomas Wayne, there is nary a Bat person on show. This then feels like a story where the most powerful of characters (and Captain Carrot) are going to make a difference. Williamson’s plotting is bang on form, tying in different characters, some like Chase will come as a surprise, others such. as Alan Scoot and Obsidian probably won’t given how much their recent bump in appearances. The dialogue also works well, with just enough normality to give the reader a small sense of what the hell is going on!
The art is provided by the recent Justice League artist Xermanico who gets to play against type with the multi-heroes, gender swapping and skin colors, though at this point, it is not quite clear if we are seeing an alternative Kal-El or Val-Zod; either way President Superman looks, well Presidential! Other characters aren’t so lucky; sure the main one fare well, but snap shots of characters very rarely work. Xermanico saves some of his best for the Flash, who as always up to his neck in multi-versal trouble. Dammit Barry! The dinner scene also packs a punch, in more ways than one. Romulo Farjardo Jr. colors are necessarily dark, so fits the tone of the book well. It took some digging to discover that Tom Napolitano provided the letters for the book. Shame on DC for not giving credit where is credit is due. Napolitano uses some clever tricks to make the monologue and dialogue tracks look different, whilst ensuring that neither impact the art.
Reading this book, I was a little confused by the timing if I am honest. Heroes from across a multiverse coming together to take on. a big bad does sound a tad like the recent Dark Powers Vampi book and it’s sister book featuring Red Sonja. That said, I am not quite sure why, but I am quite hopeful for this little event. Maybe it’s the lack of Batman for a change or maybe its because we will finally get somewhere with this whole multiverse bit that get us back Power Girl.
Writing – 4 Stars
Art – 4 Stars
Colors – 4 Stars
Overall – 4 Stars
Written by; Joshua Williamson
Art by; Xermanico
Colors by; Romulo Farjardo Jr.
Letters by; Tom Napolitano
Published by; DC Comics
Author Profile
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I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow
Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network
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