Filed under: Exquisite Reviews | Tags: Alasdair Stuart, Ben Oliver, Clem Robins, Dan Brown, grant morrison, Multiversity, The Just
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Ben Oliver
Colours by Ben Oliver and Dan Brown
Letters by Clem Robins
Cover by Ben Oliver
£3.60 or £2.60 with that SuperCard Go! You inherited from your superhero relatives
Earth 16 is a utopia. Superman’s robotic army has protected the planet for years. Damian Wayne and Chris Kent are Batman and Superman and, once, best friends. Now, with Damian dating Alexis Luthor and Chris increasingly isolated from the nihilistic, me-obsessed superhero party set, the two are drifting apart. Then something impossible happens…
I nearly didn’t make it through this issue. Every page is crammed with DC continuity nods, in jokes and postmodern dissections of the superheroic ideal. There’s a brilliant, gut punch moment in the opening act and another in the closing pages. There are at least three ideas in the issue that other series could build an entire plot line out of and at absolutely no point did I invest in any of the characters.
The first reason for that is deliberate. This is the tabloid Earth, where celebrity and superhero are interchangeable. Alexis and Damian are spoilt rich kids and Sister Miracle, the other lead is more concerned with the party she’s throwing than anything else. This is a vacuous, fame-obsessed Earth with vacuous, fame-obsessed heroes and as an exploration of celebrity culture it’s very nicely put together. In fact, too well put together as the deeply unlikeable lead cast don’t so much get under your skin as wander apathetically past, throwing the odd blue steel look to camera.
The second reason I didn’t get on with it is far more insidious. Morrison at his best has a perspective unlike any other writing working today. He sits outside the narrative, assembles it into something new and shows us both how well it works and why the narratives we use to understand the world exist. It’s an intellectual but ultimately hopeful and enthusiastic approach.
Morrison at his worst sits outside the narrative and, instead of showing us new things to do with it, keeps throwing finger guns to camera. That’s what you get here as he has characters in a comic discuss the importance of comics and what they can teach us, or not, whilst simultaneously complaining about how empty their lives are. There’s no heart, no hope, just an insectile, cold exercise in style and perspective peppered with references and jokes that at times read far more like snark than satire.
By contrast the art is lovely. Ben Oliver has an incredible grasp of pose and character and there isn’t a single panel here that isn’t beautiful. The art is kinetic, expressive and brutal when it needs to be and the character work is all detailed, fluid and expressive. Oliver and Brown do remarkable work with the colours too and the opening cut between Malibu and Metropolis shows just how versatile they are. One is sun drenched, the other is steeped in rain and both feel well realized and unique. Robins’ lettering is also impressive throughout and handles the excellent design of the book with ease and grace.
This is a technically great comic book, just like every other issue to date. Unfortunately, unlike the others this one really feels like it’s running in place. It’s a very successful study of celebrity culture but it sacrifices emotional investment for technical excellence. Buy it for the art, because that’s amazing, but don’t expect much progression of the plot. Perhaps Pax Americana will see that change,
Filed under: Exquisite Reviews | Tags: Alasdair Stuart, Captain Carrot, DC, grant morrison, Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Multiversity, Nei Ruffino, Nix Uotan, Todd Klein
Written by Grant Morrison
Penciled by Ivan Reis
Inks by Joe Prado
Colours by Nei Ruffino
Letters by Todd Klein
Cover by Resi, Prado and Ruffino
The universe is breaking. A comic is a body to be dissected, a sentient warning, a gateway to a dozen different worlds. All of them are falling. Many already have. Now, a small group of heroes pulled from a dozen different worlds must journey the Multiverse and rescue us all from the stories that are coming for us from out of the darkness.
Grant Morrison’s roadtrip through the DC universe is going to be an amazingly easy sell to Grant Morrison fans. There’s the same self awareness of form and wry, slightly terrified humour that distinguishes a lot of his early work combined with a couple of very familiar tropes. The Filth and the Super Judge have similar taste in technology whilst the villains here are going to be more than a little familiar to anyone who’s read Zenith. Plus there are whole characters here he’s played with, or created, before.
But the performance is never the trick and you’d be forgiven for worrying if this wasn’t, like so many other comics, a collection of tropes and metafictional beats falling downhill in loose formation. After all, there are clear analogues for Marvel and Image characters here and when you go down that road there’s always a danger of a comic disappearing up it’s own knowing in jokes.
This doesn’t.
Just.
Instead you get a very well paced, intense story that sets up a multiversal threat and manages the near impossible task of introducing a non A-List cast and making them both viable and vulnerable. The version of Superman, not to mention Captain Carrot, we meet is a really interesting take on the character, likewise Nix Uotan the Super Judge. They all declaim a little much, but that’s Morrison’s style and it works here. Plus the feverish pace and style change of the script makes this a mercurial, involving reading experience.
Reis’ pencils are a big part of that, especially on the analog characters and the chilling scenes of otherworldly destruction. His character work is excellent and massively enhanced by the effortlessly shifting letters Klein produces and the vibrant colours from Ruffino.
For all that though, this feels…a little cold? It’s an excellent set up for a story but, so far, that’s all it is. It’s intensely clever and beautifully produced but so far there’s not much heart to it. Look for that to change with future issues.
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