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Tuesday, April 11, 2006
The Battle for Bludhaven #1
This is a bizarre comic, but it's a type of bizarreness you don't see in superhero comics anymore. I'm almost glad to see it back. The book arrives in stores tomorrow.
The book is decidedly retro in feel. Dan Jurgens art reminds me of the house look you will find in the Marvel Essential collections that reprint books from the '70s and '80s. The anatomy and action is all done is a sturdy manner and flows in a decent manner, with no real stylistic flights of fancy to get in the way of the storytelling. The main visual influence on the book seems to be the study of thousands upon thousands of pages by John Buscema.
Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray's script completes the book's Nixon-era aesthetic. Superheroic action and allusions to current events sit uncomfortably with each other throughout the story. A giant monster named Chemo turns the city of Bludhaven unlivable due to radioactivity, reflecting many post-9/11 fears about “dirty bombs.” The citizens of Bludhaven are living in government shanty towns unable to get back to their homes, a situation similar to many New Orleans citizens. By the time we get to talk of “insurgents” Palmiotti and Gray’s strive to be relevant looks a bit overblown and clumsy.
What is weird is that the book is also trying to read like an old-school superhero comic. Characters announce themselves proudly with funny names all the time. A character who dresses like a sexy Statue of Liberty corrects one of the Teen Titans that her team name is no longer “Force of July” but rather “Freedom’s Ring.” They even have a member named Silent Majority, even though he talks. On one page three government foot soldiers contemplate how disastrous the world seems to have gotten. You’ve probably heard people in real life speak similarly about how pessimistic they feel about the future after they’ve finished a newspaper. Except in real life those people aren’t confronted by the colorful Nuclear Legion whose follow-up tag line is “And you’re about to become a little piece of ash.” Like many older superhero books all the dialogue and emotions seem to be on one setting: overload. All this in the middle of a proxy for hurricane ravaged New Orleans.
The book reminds me of the attempts to be relevant by writers like Stan Lee, Steve Englehart and Denny O’Neil. The overly-dramatic way of writing superhero comics was still in full force so you ended up with this. The modern day equivalent would be in this book where one of the characters shouts “All Hell is breaking loose! Where are the costumes?” I think the character was meant to be asking “where are the superheroes?” but it sounds like she was in charge of a chaotic acting company.
I can’t say this comic is really “good,” at least not in the way a comic like All Star Superman is. But it stuck with me long after I had read it, which is more than I can say for most of the superhero comics today. It has a weird texture to it that some may find embarrassing but I’m intrigued by. Keep in mind I’m the kind of guy who likes the Captain America books where a black power leader is revealed to be The Red Skull.
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