I'm a big fan of the super-hero humor of Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis. They had me laughing with their work on Justice League in the 1980s, and they worked their magic again recently on Formerly Known as the Justice League. They bring that brand of humor to a new property here, and it's a good deal of fun... but it's not consistent. The script boasts some really strong moments in addition to the humor, but it also features some redundancies. Furthermore, the point of the story isn't at all clear. By the end of the issue, a new premise is set up, but there's no indication of where or when we can expect to see the creators follow up on what they've begun.
Captain Valor is the most powerful, beloved and responsible hero in all of reality, but even his might and righteousness isn't enough to save his heroic friends and even his entire plane of reality from the nihilist goals and infinite power of Caliginous. The cosmic villain delivers a final, devastating attack to kill the invulnerable champion, but it has an unexpected effect instead. Meanwhile, in our world, a friend calls his pal Milo, a film student, on his complete and utter lack of direction and motivation in life. Little does he know that Milo will soon have plenty of motivation: survival.
Joe Abraham's name doesn't ring a bell, but he offers up some great work here. He captures the more comedic aspects of the story quite well. I love the detail the pours into the background, and yes, there are occasional inconsistencies in his art here, but none so severe that they distract from the story. There's a nice mix of influences apparent in his work. At times, his stuff seems like a cross between the styles of Adam Hughes and Cliff Rathburn, but then again, you could describe his art as a blending of Jock's work and that of Kevin O'Neill. I'll be honest, though... I was disappointed that the writers' frequent collaborator, Kevin Maguire, contributed only a cover to this project.
The conversation between Milo and Blaine was wonderful. It rang incredibly true. It's not so much funny, but amusing and clever in a down-to-earth way. I've had conversations like that one, and I've heard them as well. Giffen and DeMatteis really tap into some strong dialogue to bring credibility to the characters. Of course, the greatest strengths in the writers' collaborations in the past have been their one-liners and recurring gags, and there's a few of those to be found here... but not enough. The writers abandon their style of comedy for a sizable chunk of the script, and it's a little disappointing. They whet the readers' appetite for it in the opening scene, but then force them to wait far too long for more of the good stuff.
Another problem is the length of the scene between Captain Valor and Milo. It goes on and on and on, saying the same thing over and over and over again. We get the point, but Giffen and DeMatteis approach that aspect of the script as though they were flogging a dead horse. It comes off as filler. 6/10
