DC Comics 2015
Written by Paul Levitz
Penciled by Jim Fern
Inked by Joe Rubenstein
Coloured by Paul Mounts
Growing up I started reading comics in the late seventies early eighties and I had no trouble knowing who was who and where they lived. When a character from the Golden Age was revamped and updated into a new person for the Silver Age you knew the original character lived on Earth 2. Crossovers were abundant, why because they had the technology to travel between worlds it was just accepted. I think the whole idea that you needed to streamline the DC Universe while a nice idea and one of the absolute all time greatest stories ever published wasn’t really necessary at least to my young teenaged mind.
We lost groups like the Seven Soldiers of Victory because no one could find a way to work them into modern continuity. Green Arrow and Speedy would not have been around then so they had to go and we lost a part of comics history then. When I got the store, thank goodness for FCBD, and saw that this titled focused on them I was elated and to have written by Paul oh my god yes it was something I had to have.
The tribute to Sheldon Mayer here is spectacular and by focusing on Scribbly Jibbet as the narrator of this story just warmed my heart. Also Jim, Joe and Paul doing the kind of work they did here with so many different styles, Scribby’s own style of artwork, the homage to the past and the finesse of today it all just worked so incredibly well for me. Plus the Vigilante and the Shining Knight look magnificent.
I enjoyed the perspective from the teams constant scribe, the gentleman in distress rather than the damsel, and taking us to the point where right at the verge of the Crisis things changed. I have a little problem with something that happens this issue and that’s characters deaths. I don’t see why we need to kill off so many members of this team it seems senseless to me and cheapens the reading experience that I was hoping to have. This team was a rag tag group that seemed it shouldn’t work they were kind of cast off’s and they found themselves together making a difference and I wanted that again.
So as the story moves along we see that only four members survive, and no mention of Wing the Crimson Avengers sidekick, the Shining Knight, Star Spangled Kid, the Vigilante and the Crimson Avengers. Here’s hoping we see all four, though the Kid might be difficult considering Infinity Inc, band together with the surprising twist of Scribbly to defend their city and try to find a way out of this.
The Positives
A group of forgotten and often under or misused characters with incredibly characterization and wonderful diverse interior artwork.
The Negatives
Too many characters died for me when it doesn’t seem necessary.
Overall
This is a wonderful homage to the past and reminds us what it was like for people growing pre-crisis to have such a diverse group come together. This is worthy reading.