BIG BANG COMICS SUMMER SPECIAL #1
"The Super Stormtroopers!"
Mildly Recommended (5/10)
|
Image Comics
Writer: Gary Carlson
Pencils: Bill Fugate, Mark Lewis, Mike Worley, Glenn Whitmore, Tim Stiles, Jeff Weigel, Michael Kirsten & Chris Ecker
Inks: Bill Fugate, Bill Black, Jim Brozman, Chas, Jeff Weigel & Bob Rivard
Letters: Bill Fugate, Mark Lewis, Mike Worley, Sue Dorne, Chas, Jeff Weigel, Bob Rivard & Chris Ecker
Price: $4.95 US/$6.95 CAN |
When I first got into comics -- DC Comics, to be exact -- it was remarkably easy to get my hands on inexpensive reprints of not only Silver Age DC stories, but Golden Age stuff as well (all thanks to DC's wonderful digest line). It was clear that the artistry and writing from the 1940s to '60s was cruder than the comics stories I enjoyed in the 1970s and '80s, but it was a delight to discover new (to me, anyway) characters and the beginnings of familiar costumed figures.
The Big Bang pay tribute to those Golden Age stories here, and it's a treat for someone like myself, someone with an interest in the origins of the form and the artistic influences of yesteryear who shaped the icons of today. The problem with this black-and-white book is that the thinly veiled homages to notable super-hero archetypes and this book's creators really don't say anything new about them. It's a fun tale that makes unlikely Golden Age character crossovers possible, though.
The Knights of Justice call a regular meeting to order when they're interrupted by a seemingly ordinary young girl, who turns out to be the civilian guise of Thunder Girl. She's been robbed of her powers by a Nazi agent, who's passed them onto a trio of Germans. The Knights of Justice, joined by the Supreme Allied Commando, America's greatest super-soldier, rush to stop the Axis Super Stormtroopers and return the thunder-god powers to their rightful owner.
The various artists do an excellent job of capturing a Golden Age look throughout this issue, and I'm most impressed with how he convey the styles of the different artists who established the super-hero genre back in the 1940s. C.C. Beck's influence is clear throughout the opening scene, and one can also clearly see the early style of the late Jack Kirby guiding the depiction of the Captain America clone, the Supreme Allied Commando. While I loved this various tributes to legendary pioneers of the medium, the constant shifts in style -- and juxtaposition of differeing styles in the same scenes -- made for a somewhat jarring effect on the storytelling.
Though JLA/Avengers will bring together just about all of the super-hero icons of today, intercompany crossovers weren't the norm in the beginning days of comics. Carlson makes it real, though, as thinly veiled versions of the Justice Society, the Marvel Family and Captain America come together in a light but entertaining tale. Part of me wishes Carlson's plot included some unconventional elements rather than the pure tradition that's upheld here.
Email Don MacPherson with your comments about this review.
|
