Drunken Comics Rage

Okay so I didn't get to the review of my $2.99 experiment the very next day as I promised. But I'm still getting it done before the other two yahoos, so I call it a moral victory.

So as stated previously I felt fairly fortunate to have The Order #1 pulled as my $2.99 experiment book. It had actually held some interest to me, just not enough to buy before now. Although I have to say from what I read in #1 I'm intrigued enough to check out #2.

For those not 'in the know", The Order is one of the new team books launched out of the "Civil War: The Initiative" banner. It was originally supposed to be titled Champions, but Marvel had to scrap those plans as the term Champions is copyrighted by Hero Games for their roleplaying game of the same name. Normally I would say this is a pretty stupid fight and they should have just let it fly. Then I think about how DC and Marvel own a joint copyright on the terms "superhero" and I kind of look at it as Marvel getting their just desserts. Let's hear it for the little guy!

Anyhow, in the bruhaha that followed, "Champions" became "The Order". The book is written by Matt Fraction. The only other thing I've read of Fraction's is the current Immortal Iron Fist book that he co-writes with Ed Brubaker. After reading The Order, I'm giving Fraction full credit for all the entertaining kung-fu goodness in that book as everything I've read from Brubaker recently has either left me feeling anywhere from underwhelmed (Daredevil) to something close to nauseous (Uncanny X-Men: Rise and Fall of The Shi'ar Empire). It doesn't hurt either that the humorous bits in The Order tend to ring of the same style that I've seen in Iron Fist.

The premise: During the superhero Civil War, Tony Stark and company hatched the idea for a "50 State Initiative". The thought was for each state to have its own government funded supergroup to protect it from the evil doers (and unregistered superpowers). As part of the intiative, Stark and the government began taking volunteers for normal folks to be genetically altered and given powers to create some of these superpowered teams. Among these teams is a new group based in California now known as "The Order".

But it's more complicated than just that. The gift of power comes with an expiration date. One year is all the more they get. The human body is not meant to function at such enhanced levels for longer than that, so after one year (assuming they survive), they are decommisioned and depowered. And let's not forget this is California. They say that "with great power comes great responsibility". But in the land of celebrities and tabloid journalism, responsiblity comes both in and out of the costume.

So it all comes down to one question:  If for one year you could risk your life to save the world and live at the highest level of celebrity, would you do it?

It's so hard to tell with first issues where a particular book might be going, but those were the impressions left on me from what I read. The book is as much about celebrity and the trappings that come with it as it is about folks in colored jammies punching things. The foundations are there for what could be a great story and a helluva wild ride.

The storytelling in this issue was about all you can ask for in a superhero book. We get superhero acton pretty much from the jump with a generous portion of characterization. We don't get a huge amount of character development for the whole team, because by the end of the book the team looks almost nothing like the team we are introduced to. Still we get pretty decent look at the the team leader, Henry Hellrung AKA "Anthem". Henry has never been a hero in real life (but he played one on tv) and has more than his share of doubts about being the leader of a supergroup. Still, he has a personal connection to Tony Stark that makes Tony trust him implicitly to do what needs to be done. And in the few moments he has to in the first issue, Henry does just that and steps up.

I was fairly luke warm on the idea that the team was based (although not named) on the pantheon of greek mythology. I thought it was cheesy bordering on cliche. Afterall, we are talking about a universe in which many of these Gods already exist as heroes. What's the point right? However, they deal with it fairly early on and even give a humorous nod to the opinions of the "true" Gods on this band of heroes.

Tony Stark is a fairly large presence in the book as might be expected, being the head of SHIELD and the architect of the initiative. However, he doesn't dominate the story. He fits his role quite nicely in that Tony has never shied from the celebrity side of the hero business and knows exactly how things must be presented and how stories must be spun to win the battle of public opinion. It's a very well written portrayal of Stark in my opinion. Which brings up a related but slightly off topic rant.

Attention all comic writers! Tony Stark is arrogant. He is not necessarily a complete dickhead. There is a difference.

I'm not even an old school Iron Man fan, but I gotta say the divergence of portayals of Tony Stark actually annoy the shit out of me. Obviously coming out of Civil War it's pretty easy to paint Tony as a complete dick. Whether you buy Tony's side of the argument, cloning Thor was a questionable decision on his part at best. But I think Tony is portayed best when he carries that slight arrogance that comes with his level of success and self-confidence but is coupled with showing that he does not take these decisions he makes lightly. He may make very unpopular (and at times what seem to be completely insane) decisions, but he makes them because he absolutely believes that what he is doing is right and in the long run will save the lives of his friends and millions of innocent people.

That does not mean that he has to flex and act like a total dickhead in front of his fellow superheroes or those he knows are far more powerful than himself. So please don't write him as such.

And yes, I'm looking right at you Straczynski.

But I digress.

Anyhow, where I was curious going in to issue #2 of The Order, I'm now intrigued and certain to buy #2 to see if it continues to build on the foundations I think I'm seeing.

So for the first round of the $2.99 experiment, count me as a winner. Or I guess count me as a loser depending on how you are counting.

 

Filed under: DVO Reading Rage, The $2.99 Experiment