REVIEW: Wednesday Comics #1

I know Blackest Night shipped this week, but for me THE comics event of the Summer started last week with the debut of Wednesday Comics #1. Wednesday Comics is exactly the type of outside the box project I wish we saw more of today. DC has collected some of the biggest names in comics including the Newbery Award winning Neil Gaiman and Mike Allred, Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Rizzo, Dave Gibbons and Ryan Sook, Paul Pope, Kyle Baker, Walt Simonson and Brian Stelfreeze… the list just goes on an on… to work on a weekly series styled after the Comics section of the Sunday newspaper. Giant, full color, one-page stories will run over the next 12 weeks starring Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Sgt. Rock, Metamorpho, the Teen Titans, Hawkman, and more. Each page is four times the size of a regular comic page and looks amazing.

To publicize the event, DC struck a deal for the entire Superman story to run on USAToday.com in weekly installments. The first part of the story was even published in the print edition of that paper (though let’s be honest… in 2009 more people are reading the online version than the print edition). I don’t know that this is going to bring a ton of new people into stores looking for the full version of Wednesday Comics, but it’s still something beyond what we normally see in terms of promotion.

I’m typically a story guy. The writing is what keeps me coming back to a book month after month.  And if there’s anything that seems clear from WC #1, it is that you’re probably not going to get a particularly satisfying piece of any story on a given week. Most of the features in issue one are heavy on origin and back story.  This is ok in my opinion because how many people know ANYTHING about Kamandi or Adam Strange or even Deadman? The one story that I DID really enjoy, however, was Neil Gaiman and Mike Allred’s Metamorpho: The Element Man.  That comic was just retro fun.  While the story doesn’t seem to be the focus in WC, it took a surprisingly long time to read the issue and there’s definitely enough story to not leave you feeling short changed.

Really it’s clear right from the second you unfold a copy of Wednesday Comics and finally grasp the size of each page that this project was always about the art.  The opening Batman story isn’t anything special, but starting with page 2 and 3 with Kamandi and Superman I had a giant grin on my face as I read through the issue like a 1o year old in 1964. I love the retro designs of the Green Lantern story, the strange oddly faceless art on Teen Titans, the otherworldly colors on Wonder Woman, the intensity of Sgt. Rock and Easy Company. I suspect the Demon/Catwoman team-up is going to be great fun. I like the idea of the Flash page being split up between a Flash story and a parallel story featuring his future wife.

However, the two absolute highlights are Kyle Baker’s art on Hawkman and Paul Pope on Strange Adventures.  Kyle Baker is a guy who I’m only really familiar with his cover artwork for projects like The Truth and Plastic Man both of which had a cartoony feel to them.  His Hawkman, however, leaps off the page and into action (apparently featuring the Aquaman-esque ability to control birds… is that normal?  If so, I never knew that.)

There’s something about Paul Pope’s odd art and the attacking Rock-People of Ragathann… I guess the way it revels in its pulp roots… that I just love.

To me THIS is a book worth $4.  And that’s something I can’t say about too many other books on the market. Yes, this review is a week late. I intended to skip it and just review issue 2, but my shop was sold out.  AGAIN.  Good sign or bad sign?

PS Dan Didio go away.  Stop writing comics.  Stop editing comics.  There’s no reason for your writing to be in this book except that you keep chasing the talented writers away from DC… having said that thanks for allowing DC to try something special.