The last time I read an Adam Warren book, it was the undeniably fun and goofy Gen 13. Warren has a strange, Japanese pop-cultural influenced style that is distinctive and often fun. It doesn't strike me as the sort of thing that would be a good match for a lot of existing concepts, but it does work perfectly on his own creations, and Livewires feels very much like a Warren book, down to Rick Mays providing art that is as good as Warren's own stuff. Crazy over-the-top action, wacky codenames and some very distinctive characters mixed with just a tinge of Marvel Universe elements makes for a fun first issue. It's a very lightweight read, and maybe not for those who want to take their characters seriously, but it has the same infectious sense of fun and ideas as Grant Morrison's JLA: Classified, albeit on a much smaller scale.
From the start, the twist of the book is pretty clear, but it's also pretty clear that we're not really meant to be surprised about what's going on. Indeed, for all the weirdness of the book, the structure of the storytelling is pretty much textbook. Expository information about each character is delivered to a point-of-view outsider character whilst things blow up all around them. It's familiar storytelling, but it's not unwelcome, and more to the point, the structure does make for a first issue where you don't spend the whole time wondering "so who are these guys and what are they about?" unlike a lot of other first issues these days.
I like the characters that Warren has come up with here. Their names are goofy, their personalities not too far removed from that descriptor either. I love the little tricks that Warren uses to play up their "cybernetic" nature, such as abbreviating Gothic Lolita's name as "LOL." Warren isn't going for the "brooding loner anti-hero" types here; these are bright, enthusiastic characters with a borderline psychotic love of what they do. I was particularly taken with Social Butterfly, but then, that's sort of the point of the character, that she's the really loveable one.
Rick Mays is a guy whose art I haven't always liked, but that's generally been because I don't think his style, like Warren's, is perfect for everything. On Livewires, however, Mays's style is perfectly in synch with what Warren is going for. He does a particularly great job on the reaction shots of our POV character, but there's also a lot to be said about the frenetic pacing and wide open style of his action sequences, not to mention his design of crazy concepts like the Pyronanos. Mays, Martin and Guru EFX give Livewires the bright, lively look that it needs.
Because so much of the issue is spent on introducing the characters, we really don't get to see a lot of the plot, but the basics are laid out pretty clearly. These guys are secret robot agents (who, in an amusing quirk, find the term "robot" offensive) whose job it is to take out other secret weapons programs. They all have powers and abilities that give them specialties, and so they function more like a team of secret agents or soldiers than superheroes, although the scale and style of their powers is more superpowered than military. It's a strong concept, and it's supported by really fun characters, snappy writing and beautiful art. 8/10
