War in the DCU
The Good: The cover is REALLY cool, definitely one of my favorites so far. Effective and engaging.
The art is really great at being real and gritty without going too far into standard and boring territory. There's an amazing section at the beginning. We see Rock in midst of a battle, and then cut to a meeting with him and 2 higher ranking officials. Rock is firm in his position as one of the men tries to pry some answers out of him. Suddenly something he says catches Rock off guard, his facial expression softens into curiosity, and we see his eyes for the first time, an INTENSELY powerful blue that sticks out like a sore thumb. Realization hits. His eyes haven't been shown until now, and now we see he's been singled out as the main character. In that moment of hesitation, we finally see into his eyes, and catch a glimpse of them man behind them, more than just the nameless soldier he was before.
This book captures an interesting spirit that places it in the DCU. For most of the issue, it's a pretty typical (Though VERY well written) gritty war comic. And then the metahumans show up. This is a gritty war comic in a world where metahumans exist. A lot of the tone is still the same, but the scope of the storytelling is changed completely. We're never told who the metas are who interrupted the story, but that's not important. They are simply representations of the world this comic takes place in. It's a very interesting concept with some very solid execution.
The Bad: This is not a series worth $3.99. The backup story is just an average war story with no demonstrated connection to anything. And it just wasn't very interesting. I had to struggle to get through it to see if it meant anything, and the only time I was interested in the least was the last page, but even then it wasn't all that great. It was pointless and confusing.
Not a whole lot really happened, and I can't full tell where this series is trying to go.
In Conclusion: 4/5
This is definitely a very solid new DC comic, and a welcome part of the New 52. I would definitely advise this to anyone looking for something a little different in the 'gritty' category. Nice deep blend of art and writing to set the tone makes a great execution of a great concept.
