This week: DC Comics rings the bell for its big fall event: DC KO. Additionally, Supergirl and Superman: Kryptonite Spectrum are two great books that bring some fun variety to the Man of Steel title.
Note: The following review may contain spoilers. If you want a quick, spoiler-free buy/pass recommendation for the comic in question, check out the final verdict at the bottom of the article.
DC KO #1
Screenplay: Scott Snyder
Artist: Javier Fernandez with Xermanico
Colorist: Alejandro Sanchez
Author: Hassan Otuman Elaou
It’s round 1 of DC KO #1 and I feel like tapping out. This is an apt way of telling my story that I struggled with the first chapter of DC’s big fall event. Now, I’m not going to write off the entire story based on Part 1 (especially since I’ve enjoyed the build-up so far), but this week’s opening felt a little too complex for an event that’s being presented as a big stupid superhero fight tournament. For me, this comic tried to do too much within the confines of just one issue, which resulted in the whole thing feeling bogged down and even obligatory in places.
DC KO #1 also looked like he wanted to assert his own seriousness. It was as if they were trying to convince us that there was more going on here than just a big superhero punching tournament. But here’s the thing, friends…what I really wanted was a big superhero punching tournament. To be honest, I don’t need omega and alpha energies and I don’t really know what they are.
Importantly, Scott Snyder is in charge of the script for this event. And to be fair, we might still get a lot of fun out of DC KO. This first problem was probably because there was too much setup to do to clear the deck for the upcoming combat-heavy chapters. In the space of 44 pages, this book does the following: It makes clear the threat Darkseid poses to existence, encompasses the Time Trapper Booster Gold business with the DCU, and provides a way for heroes to stop Darkseid. Win tournaments to gain his level of power, involve many villains, and conquer Shazam. Goes off the board, thoroughly skewers Batman, somehow references the New 52 continuity reboot, and talks about there being spies among the ranks of heroes (our own Joe Groenenwald was immediately convinced it was Booster Gold).
But I think what ended up being a little too much for me was that this issue was heavily narrated by the Heart of Apokolips. This is clearly a problem and makes you sound like you have a graduate degree in English.
Simply put, the main reason I struggled with this first issue was because it felt like they were trying too hard.
That said, I think you’ll enjoy the next issue even more. I really like the premise of the main title of Superman, and the author of that book, Joshua Williamson, is co-plotting this event and also writing the tie-in title. I also thought that DC KO went out of their way to provide some very stylized art, colors, and lettering that set this book apart from past events. That’s a very cool move.
The book’s artwork is primarily by Javi Fernández, with interludes by Xermanico and coloring by Alejandro Sánchez. The line art is sharp and vibrant, and handles the book’s large cast well, with the 32-panel spread of the tournament contestants being particularly impressive. That’s not the only thing that impresses me about this book. Fernandes has chosen a bold layout reminiscent of a children’s board game, which fits perfectly into the motif of a large tournament. I really dug it.
But I think it’s Sanchez’s color work that makes the visual language of this event truly unique. I would characterize it as sharp sci-fi neon. It especially comes alive in sequences where Darkseid or big DCU nonsense comes into play (Omega Energy, Skartaris Nexus, etc.). The colors, on the other hand, are based on the Earth sequence, but quickly revert to whimsy as the high-concept play begins in earnest. The coloring alone lets you know you’re reading something different than a standard DCU mainline comic. largely.
Hassan Otsman-Elaou also makes a bold statement with his unique characters in this book, at least for a major superhero comic. I don’t know how to describe it better than to say that the lettering here feels almost post-modern, and feels over-the-top to the point of reaching a new space with superhero events. I found it a little distracting at first, but by the end of the first issue I came to rather appreciate the creative work that went into making this comic stand out (it started with the cover design, though Fernandez may have been the one who conceptualized it).
Another thing I have to say about this comic, and I might be the only one here, is that I don’t feel like the whole Superman thing is fighting brass knuckles with sunlight in them. I’m going to be a very typical superhero fan here…but if Superman has access to a miniature sun, why wouldn’t he strap it to his torso and use it as an endless healing/power system? What’s the benefit of having it in his knuckles in particular? I don’t understand. I hope I accomplished my goal with this week’s column.
See you here again for round two!
Summary
I don’t have the bandwidth this week to dig deep into the week’s other releases (NYCC preparations beckon). But I wanted to note that books like Supergirl #6 and Superman: Kryptonite Spectrum #3 are perfect examples of how diverse and interesting Superman comics can be when creators and editors think a little outside the box. Throughout this installment of Supergirl, writer and artist Sophie Campbell delivers on the fun. Maiden of Might, which pays homage to the Silver Age, is expressed with a unique and fresh voice. The result is a refreshing and interesting title that stands out not only from other Superman books, but also from DC’s series as a whole. Campbell is joined by Becca Carey, who is always an excellent letterer. Becca Carey is one of the best letterers in comics when it comes to precisely matching the tone of the art and the script.
Superman: Kryptonite Spectrum, on the other hand, feels like DC Comics editorial has unleashed one of the best teams in indie comics, the members of Ice Cream Man (writer W. Maxwell Prince, artist Martin Morazzo, colorist Chris O’Halloran, and Letter Good Old Neon) into the entire Superman mythos. If you’ve read The Ice Cream Man, you’ll know that this team is good at developing and bringing new and interesting themes to life with each issue. And they do a great job in this book of bringing that to not just Superman, but the DCU as a whole.
In summary, please give us more books like Supergirl and Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum.
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