Ed McGuinness returns to the title he helped to make popular, and his larger-than-life, cartoony approach certainly suits the over-the-top quality of the plot and characters. Writer Jeph Loeb gets things started on a rather confusing note, but it's clear that it's his intent to keep the reader in the dark at this point. Still, rather than an air of mystery, I felt left out of the loop. The Bizarro/Batzarro material is difficult to follow as well, but there's no denying how much it is. Ultimately, there's no way to judge this book until we learn more about what's going on, but it seems there's plenty of potential for strong storytelling and disappointment as well.
In an alternate reality, there are no heroes more revered and more powerful than the Maximums. Sponsored by the U.S. government, there's no threat that Soldier, Skyscraper, Viking, Hornet, Robot and bonk can't handle... until two caped visitors from another universe land on their doorstep. Meanwhile, Bizarro #1 stops by Gotham City to seek out Batzarro so they can form the World's Worst Team... or so they can't form it. Um... yeah.
My head hurts.
Though the opening scene ultimately ends on a grim note, the core intention is definitely to spoof Marvel characters. As such, McGuinness's exaggerated style is well suited to the task. Actually, the scene -- and especially the Godiva character -- demonstrated what a strong influence Arthur (Tom Strong's Terrific Tales) Adams has on McGuinness's style. The designs for some of the Avengers knockoffs are pretty striking, notably Hornet, Viking and Robot. The colors in that scene and throughout the book are far too dark, though. This is over-the-top super-hero stuff, and brighter, gaudier tones are definitely called for. I mean, this is a comic book with a hero called Skyscraper and a villain named Batzarro. Lee Loughridege is known for his darker, muted tones, so I think editor Eddie Berganza simply tapped the wrong colorist for this job.
Speaking of which, all hail the sheer goofiness and creepiness of Batzarro! I love the character, even if he's just a generic evil doppelganger of the Dark Knight. The narration gimmick -- that what's thinking is exactly the same as what he says aloud -- was hilarious as well, though I hope Loeb doesn't overuse the gag. I was a bit confused as to how Batzarro came to be, and I would have expected a bit of an explanation regarding his origin. Furthermore, the negative Bizarro-speak is incredibly difficult to follow. I was never sure what the characters were really saying.
Did we really need another version of another publisher's characters? DC and Marvel keep poking fun at each other's characters, and the approach just seems so overused. This isn't so much a criticism of Loeb's writing, per se, but of a broader tendency in super-hero comics, I suppose. 6/10
