About Heroes

Authors: Keith Giffen and J M Dematteis
Pencillers: Joe Abraham, Eduardo Barreto,
Inker: Cythia Martin and Chase Conley
Publisher: BOOM!
I could sit here and talk about how much I love Giffen's and Dematteis' Justice League back in the day. I could sit here and tell you, how I had to travel an hour and half to find this book, because my local comic shop did not get one in. I could also tell you about how this book reminds me of the glory days of Justice League and how I had the biggest hard on for Fire...but I will refrain from telling you all that stuff...ohh shit, never mind. I'm not going to bother putting spoiler tags on here, because I'm sure there were only 300 people in America besides me that picked Planetary Brigade up. So on that note here is the review:

Now days there seems to be a standard rule among creators whenever they create a new superhero universe, they all have to be not-so-well hidden well-known characters. Judging by the cover alone, this is the Justice League, no ifs ands or buts. On the other hand Giffen and Dematteis don't follow the rules too strictly. Yes we have Captain Valor who is much like Superman and Captain America; the Grim Knight is meant to be an analogue of Batman; there is a Wonder Woman analogue; a mystic like Martian Man Hunter named the Visitor and of course the Purring Pussycat the Fire-like character, who is shallow, but has a heart of gold. Then we have Earth Goddess and Third eye, the most interesting and original characters on the team.

So, despite having the opportunity of being a new creator-owned book, this book is the same book you read 20 years ago, but a bit edgier. Giffen and Dematteis never got a chance to work with the classic relationship of Batman and Superman....so this is probably the closest thing. Furthermore, the rest of the team does offer interesting variations. Like in their Justice League run, this works because although the characters aren't treated reverentially, they're still made to seem human. There's nothing too original here at all, but that's completely beside the point. It's Giffen and DeMatteis doing what they do best, and of course that is solid story telling with bickering snarky dialogue.

Eduardo Barretto, Chase Conley, Joe Abraham, Cynthia Martin and Mark Badger and provide pages of art that while they do not blend together and are a bit erratic they do not clash. They all have their forte, Cynthia's action panels are really amazing and Congly can illustrate some of the best damn facial expressions I have seen in a long time. It's not the sort of book that really benefits from an art jam though, and some of it is rather inappropriate. I really hope they get just one artist for the next issue. So to wrap it all up, yes its the same formula that Giffen and Dematteis have been sticking to for years, but damn its fun and better than 80% of the crap that is out there
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