American Way #3
Quick Rating: Great
Title: Let the Word Go Forth
The New American debuts - and the CDC is split at the seams!
Writer: John Ridley
Pencils: Georges Jeanty
Inks: Ray Snyder & Karl Story
Colors: Wildstorm FX
Letters: Pat Brosseau
Editor: Ben Abernathy
Cover Art: Georges Jeanty
Publisher: DC Comics/Wildstorm Signature Series
Review: While DC as a whole is playing games with its Multiverse at the present, it’s nice to have an imprint like the Wildstorm Signature Series to give home to stories that never would have fit in the DCU or Wildstorm Universe proper, but are too good to remain untold.
It’s October of 1962 and the newest member of the Civil Defense Corps, the New American, is making his mark in a big way. He’s a genuine, adored, criminal-thwarting, burning building-braving American hero. But he carries two big secrets - just as the public has no idea the villains the CDC battles are frauds no one, not even his teammates, know that the New American, the great American hero and role model, is a black man.
As he did last issue John Ridley laces the main story - that of the New American and the publicist who got him onto the CDC in the first place - with subplots and revelations about the rest of the team and the world they’ve built for themselves. Ridley deserves an enormous amount of credit for his world-building here. It would have been very easy to paint the government and CDC as being outright wrong, but it becomes clear there are legitimate advantages to their position. There are troubles, even bad guys, but thus far there’s really no clear-cut villain. The ideas he presents aren’t black and white (pardon the pun), and he doesn’t present them that way.
He also shows great skill with the way he creates and paints his characters. He’s found a very unique balance between the comic book archetypes they represent and the real people he wants them to be.
Jeanty, Snyder and Story have a lot of fun with this book, from some of the most iconic superhero imagery there is (there’s a blatant reference to the cover of Action Comics #1 in here) to a gruesome murder and some old-fashioned newsreel-style footage, the book looks great.
This miniseries is rapidly becoming one of my favorites of the year - if you’re not reading it, hunt down the first two issues. This is one of the best “realistic” takes on superheroes I’ve ever read.
Rating: 9/10
Title: Let the Word Go Forth
The New American debuts - and the CDC is split at the seams!
Writer: John Ridley
Pencils: Georges Jeanty
Inks: Ray Snyder & Karl Story
Colors: Wildstorm FX
Letters: Pat Brosseau
Editor: Ben Abernathy
Cover Art: Georges Jeanty
Publisher: DC Comics/Wildstorm Signature Series
Review: While DC as a whole is playing games with its Multiverse at the present, it’s nice to have an imprint like the Wildstorm Signature Series to give home to stories that never would have fit in the DCU or Wildstorm Universe proper, but are too good to remain untold.
It’s October of 1962 and the newest member of the Civil Defense Corps, the New American, is making his mark in a big way. He’s a genuine, adored, criminal-thwarting, burning building-braving American hero. But he carries two big secrets - just as the public has no idea the villains the CDC battles are frauds no one, not even his teammates, know that the New American, the great American hero and role model, is a black man.
As he did last issue John Ridley laces the main story - that of the New American and the publicist who got him onto the CDC in the first place - with subplots and revelations about the rest of the team and the world they’ve built for themselves. Ridley deserves an enormous amount of credit for his world-building here. It would have been very easy to paint the government and CDC as being outright wrong, but it becomes clear there are legitimate advantages to their position. There are troubles, even bad guys, but thus far there’s really no clear-cut villain. The ideas he presents aren’t black and white (pardon the pun), and he doesn’t present them that way.
He also shows great skill with the way he creates and paints his characters. He’s found a very unique balance between the comic book archetypes they represent and the real people he wants them to be.
Jeanty, Snyder and Story have a lot of fun with this book, from some of the most iconic superhero imagery there is (there’s a blatant reference to the cover of Action Comics #1 in here) to a gruesome murder and some old-fashioned newsreel-style footage, the book looks great.
This miniseries is rapidly becoming one of my favorites of the year - if you’re not reading it, hunt down the first two issues. This is one of the best “realistic” takes on superheroes I’ve ever read.
Rating: 9/10