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HAVEN: THE BROKEN CITY #1
"History Lesson"
Mildly Recommended (6/10)
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DC Comics
Writers: Ashley-Jayne Nicolaus & Matthew P. Schuster
Artist: Ariel Olivetti
Colors: Rob Ro & Alex Bleyaert
Letters: Bill Oakley
Editor: Mike Carlin
Price: $2.50 US/$4.25 CAN |
Well, now we have the other half of what should have been JLA/Haven: The Arrival. This issue is pure exposition, which is necessary but not as
exciting as the action of that one-shot, and together the two might prove a more
interesting read, but split into two they serve as incomplete stories. There's
also a continuing lack of development of the actual cast, in place of an
overlong setup for a concept that is really relatively easy to explain. However,
the potential of the concept is still strong, and Olivetti's artwork is
attractive and well-suited to the book. For a pair of writers learning on the
go, this is an okay book with potential to be more. It's just unfortunate that
it's up against much stronger competition in the comics market.
While JLA/Haven was all about the crash of the city and the
action-packed race to stop the city from sliding into the ocean and causing even
more destruction and death, this one is all about how the aliens got into this
mess in the first place. It's familiar stuff, a tyrant and a rebellion, but that
doesn't make it a bad basis for a story. However, because the basic concepts are
so familiar to anyone who has read comics for any length of time, it seems odd
that the creative team chose to spend so much time explaining when they should
be getting on with what happens now, which is really the most interesting part
of this concept.
Olivetti was a great choice
of artist for this project, however, particularly when you're doing flashbacks.
His designs for an alien world are approachable enough to be clear, but there's
enough of a science-fiction and alien touch to the clothing and buildings to
make it seem exotic. He could still use a lot of differentiation between the
various alien protagonists and antagonists, but the basics of the designs are
impressive and attractive.
One of the other really interesting aspects of the book so far is how the U.S. Government, headed by Luthor, has reacted to it. The politics of extraterrestrial relations were last really touched on back in the Hawkworld series, and
it has always seemed an interesting area to me. The ambassador for alien
affairs, one of the few well-developed characters in the book, is already a
favorite, and I look forward to seeing how her job develops.
What I don't look forward to
is what we've unfortunately gotten a great deal of so far. Battles between the
JLA and fairly generic aliens are dull no matter what the venue, and that's
especially true when the power level of the aliens seems ridiculously overblown
to make them seem a threat to the JLA. The inclusion of the JLA seems to be a
mistake in the first place, as it is fairly obvious that they were included more
for marketing reasons than story reasons.
I want to like this book, if only because it's a new concept and it's the first shot of new creators, but so far, Haven seems to suffer from not enough character
development and clunky plotting, and attractive art and a good concept can't
quite overcome that.
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