This Is Art, Kids!

In 2011, following the events of Flashpoint, DC wiped their continuity (With some exceptions) and relaunched with the New 52. I’ve been long interested in this period of DC history. It seems like a period filled with risks and interesting creative decisions. Some of them paid off, but a lot of them failed. I’m here to take a look at the failures.

Over the next few months (Months? Years? I’m bad at finishing projects, so we’ll see.) I’m going to be reading through the canceled DC 52 books in order of cancellation. I’m going to tell you what I think and if I think they deserved to last longer than they did. I’m hoping to find the illustrious hidden gems (Aren’t we all?), but I’m expecting to find a lot of duds and misfires. Let’s get going!

Blackhawks by

Mike Costa, Graham Nolan (1-4), and Kafu(5-8)

The Blackhawks are a secret military team who take on secret enemies intent on using future tech to dominate the world. They are a group of leather clad secret agents whose personalities are basically defined by what their job is (Canada, the pilot, has various dialogues where his reasoning for doing something is just that he’s the pilot.).

Story:

The dialogue here is expository to a fault. The characters are basically blank slates whose only job it is is to spew plot points or Costa’s opinion on future tech. There are also far too many of them and they are all underdeveloped. Besides a brief conversation in one of the issues, I couldn’t tell you anything about these character’s past or what lead them to join The Blackhawks. Everyone felt so disposable.

Art:

The art is very 90’s and clean. The characters all look like they could be castaways from some late 90’s action film( The Leader of the team even has frameless glasses!). Nolan’s artwork is serviceable, but not particularly enjoyable. He does, however, have a few really neat panel layouts over the course of the book.

Kafu takes over at issue 5 and does a better job drawing the book, but still has to use the costumes from the beginning of the run. I’m a fan of Kafu overall (His Thunder Agents run with Nick Spencer is criminally underrated and I’m still made the Spencer’s Marvel deal basically ended it.), but he’s not really working with the best stuff here.

Did It Deserve Better:

No. An easy no as well. The Sci-fi stuff here is nothing new that hasn’t been done better elsewhere and the art is pretty nondescript. I would have canceled it sooner.

Men Of War by

Ivan Brandon(1-6), Tom Derenick(1-6,8),James Robinson(7),Phil Winslade(7), Jeff Lemire(8),Various Others(Backup Stories).

Joe Rock (Grandson of SGT. Rock) is a soldier of war with a legendary pedigree. War is no longer what it used to be. After his general dies, Joe Rock finds himself in an unwanted position of power in a world he doesn’t truly understand.

Story:

The first six issues of this are written by Ivan Brandon. The scripts are pretty tidy and focus primarily on Joe Rock’s perspective. The action is pretty fast moving and there are elements of supernatural forces that probably would have paid off if the series lasted the initial 6 issues (Issue 2 had some stuff with Circe that definitely felt unresolved). The character work is mostly focused on Joe, but it does tease more character development for some of the members of his crew. I think it really could have gone to some interesting places.

The last two issues are fill in issues by different writers (Robinson and Lemire.). I guess Brandon didn’t want to continue on a sinking ship, so he left before the end. These two issues are standalone issues that really don’t have anything to do with the characters from the first six issues. The Robinson one is an okay revenge story with fantastic art. The Lemire issue feels like a backdoor pilot for Frankenstein Agent Of Shade.

Art:

The first six and last issue are drawn by Tom Derenick. The art is grim and serves the war torn environment very well. The seventh issue has wonderful pencils and coloring by Phil Winslade. The art has some really painterly qualities with some extravagant popping reds. It turns a pretty basic revenge story into a must read.

Did It Deserve Better?

I’ll go with a light yes here. I’m not champing at the bit for more, but another four issues to see where it was heading would have been nice. I don’t think I’d want to read more than 12 issues of this though, but that’s just a personal thing (I’m not really into war comics.).

Hawk and Dove by

Sterling Gates and Rob Liefeld

Hawk and Dove are a duo of crime fighters whose powers complement one another. This book is really not about much. For example, The book describes compassion as one of Dove’s superpowers. If they don’t care about good storytelling, I can’t be bothered to write good synopsis for it.

Story:

This comic is very action oriented, so the story really doesn’t matter much. Very wide strokes in the storytelling and not very much nuance. I’m a lover of puns, but some of the jokes were even hard for me to swallow( They don’t really understand the Pundementals of humor. Heh!). The last three issues have Sterling Gates drop out and leave Liefeld to be the sole writer. Reading this book was torture.

Art:

If your book is action oriented, you should at least pick a good artist. That being said, I kinda love how nonsensical Liefeld’s art can sometimes be. Trying to find the anatomy tropes was the only fun that I managed to get out of reading this. Like, what the fuck is Batman doing here and why does he look constipated:

Did It Deserve Better:

FUUUUUCCCCCCK NO!!!!! Lousy art, lousy storytelling. I never will understand what was in the water in the early 90’s and I’m shocked that Liefeld was able to get work this late in his career (and it’s not the last we’ll see of him *sigh*). This was the first time I’ve regretted starting this project.

OMAC by

Dan Didio and Keith Giffen

Kevin Kho, worker at Cadmus, is working one day when suddenly he transformed into OMAC (One Man Army Core.). Losing control of his agency, and under the control of Brother Eye, he fights a battle that he doesn’t understand. Will Kevin regain control or will OMAC consume him?

Story:

Big, stupid, fun here The plot is really a stupid excuse to show some extravagant art. It very much feels like a 70’s book in the best way. Didio and Giffen have essentially created the utlimate tribute to the golden age of comics

Art:

The art is absolutely incredible. With the big extravagant costumes and king sized fights, this book really wears it’s influences on it sleeves. The splash pages in this book, geez! OMAC was a Kirby creation and Giffen really does his best to replicate that style.

Did It Deserve Better?

Nah, not really. But that’s not a slam against it. It comes onto the scene, does it’s thing, and gets out. What it does is really neat, but I couldn’t see it being sustainable over a larger run. This is probably the first book of this project that I would reread. Treat yourself, enjoy OMAC!

Mister Terrific

by

Eric Wallace and Gianluca Gugliotta

Micheal Holt, genius leader of a tech company, takes on crime on as Mister Terrific. With his mental accumen and his brawn, he must take on the technological dangers that plague this modern world.

Story:

This is the first series to have a character that has an interesting career. The intrigue between Michael and his coworkers is a lot more compelling than any of the interpersonal relationships in Hawk and Dove. The supervillans are pretty commonplace superhero stuff, but they are passable. There is a really interesting intersex character that I wish they did more with, but otherwise there’s nothing game changing here. It’s fun enough.

Art:

Gianluca’s art here was pretty enjoyable for the city focused stuff, but the cosmic stuff is where he really shines. Anytime that Mister Terrific is in space, was a real treat to me.

Did It Deserve Better?

Maybe? The book kinda ends with a tease for more adventures. I wouldn’t say no to more, but it’s not a travesty that it was canceled.

Static Shock

by

Scott Mcdaniel, John Rozum, and Marc Bernardin

After getting exposed to Q-Juice(Yes, that’s what it’s called), Virgil Hawkins gains the ability to manipulate electric energy. With these powers he defends New York from all the creeps and weirdos. He also has cloned twin sisters.

Story:

This book is messy. It has three different writers, and the first issue very much seems like a continuation of an older book. He has cloned twin sisters for some reason, his family moved from Dakota (North? South? They never tell us.) for some reason, other milestone characters show up with no explanation..etc. They try to patch this up in the last(!) issue by having Static do a tell all to a guidance counselor, but it really seems forced.

Art:

The art is fine. Kinda feels safe and I’m starting to notice a DC house style. At least for the superhero stuff. Perfectly suitable.

Did It Deserve Better?

Nah, this books was too confusing for me as a new reader to Static. When they finally revealed the story, it still didn’t do much for me. Probably the second worst series I read.

Well, that wraps up all of the first wave of titles to be cancelled. There were a few decent books, some real trash and only one book that I would recommend here(OMAC). The next four books to be canceled all ran for 12 issues, so it will be interesting to see if those books have more substance.