Wednesday Comics Assessment

The tabloid-style comics experiment from DC that I mentioned in my previous post has now reached three issues and 25% of its 12 week run. So now seems like a good time to make a preliminary assessment.

First, I like it. A lot. This is the first comic in a very long time that has made me want to get to the comic book store on Wednesday. Now, feature by feature:

Batman by Azzarello and Risso. This is not only good but getting better each week. Each page so far has told its own little story in addition to being part of the overall story. That's perfect serial storytelling. I'm impressed, and I'm not much of a Batman fan; this may be the most technically proficient strip of the whole publication.

Kamandi, Last Boy on Earth by Ryan and Sook. This is the most handsomely mounted of the strips, big and brash and yet formal, very much Hal Foster in style. Again, not a Kamandi fan, but I'm finding this great fun. The story is moving along at a good pace.

Superman by Arcudi and Bernejo. This looks good, but is a waste of space and ink. The successful strips in Wednesday Comics are plunging right in and telling a story. Superman is wallowing in self-pity; nothing at all has happened. Just awful.

Deadman by Bullock and Heuck. Off to a somewhat murky start, I'd say, but interesting to look at as Deadman is being buffeted about by forces beyond his control.

Green Lantern by Busiek and Quinones. So far this is only ok, but I have confidence in Busiek; he rarely misfires. The art is nice, and the story is acceptable and is moving at a decent pace.

Metamorpho by Gaiman and Allred. I like this, but only the first page was completely successful. The second and third installments are basically tour-de-force splash pages; nice to look at but doing the storytelling work of maybe two panels. This strip needs to pick up the pace. But I'm still enjoying it.

Teen Titans by Berganza and Galloway. This is just awful. Bad, washed out art, an inexplicable storyline, characters who receive no definition (and too many characters). Along with Superman, the least technically proficient or interesting strip in Wednesday Comics.

Strange Adventures by Pope. From the ridiculous to the sublime. This isn't just good, this is memorable. Paul Pope is actually reinventing Adam Strange as an interesting character and the planet Rann as an interesting setting. I wouldn't have thought it possible; Adam Strange was always the most bloodless of Silver Age creations, or I thought so. Great stuff.

Supergirl by Palmiotti and Conner. It's obvious that some of the creators are deliberately aping a particular Sunday newspaper comic strip, at least in part (Kamandi is doing Prince Valiant, while the Wonder Woman strip is using a Little Nemo in Slumberland gimmick); Supergirl seems instead to be filling a standard niche on the Sunday pages: light humor. Three issues and she's just chasing Krypto the Superdog and Streaky the Supercat all over the place. I'm guessing it just isn't aimed at me, and that's ok. I've basically never read a Supergirl story I thought was worth the effort, and this isn't changing my mind, but it isn't actually offensively bad like Teen Titans or Superman.

Metal Men by Didio and Garcia-Lopez. This is fine but not inspired. After a clever and visually interesting first strip, it's turned into a bank robbery adventure. Nice art, I always liked Garcia-Lopez. But I'm not sure there's a lot of point to this, or not yet.

Wonder Woman by Caldwell. This one is hard to evaluate. The panels are tiny and the action hard to follow, and it's very wordy. Frankly, I can't tell what's going on. The only thing I'm getting is that the adventure is taking place in a very young Wonder Woman's dreams. At least the strip is different; it may take rereading the whole thing to evaluate it. Also, I really like the new logo.

Sgt. Rock and Easy Company by Kubert and Kubert. I was never a fan of war comics, with the occasional exception of the Marvel analogue to this feature, Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos. So this just doesn't do much for me, and I'll just note that nothing has really happened in three strips. Rock is being interrogated by Nazis. Ok, what next?

Flash Comics by Kerschl and Fletcher. Again, this is divided into pseudo romance strip Iris West and the more conventional superhero strip The Flash. Both are good; different in tone but telling the same story. Very clever. Three pages in and we're already into a standard (for the Silver Age Flash) time-travel story. It's carried off with delirious speed here... of course.

The Demon and Catwoman. Another story that has the pacing right, although we see very little of the Demon so far. Catwoman is playing her usual ambiguous role in the story, and is in big trouble that rather serves her right so far. Not spectacular or breaking new ground, but ok.

Hawkman by Baker. Again a well-paced strip that just plunged in and kept moving fast. The art is gorgeous, the action is exciting, and I'm looking forward to the next installment already.

The overall assessment so far? A fun variety of material every issue, a high standard of quality being met for most of the strips. I think Wednesday Comics is a winner so far.