New Statesmen #1

****SPOILERS***** but this story is from 1989, so you had your chance.

I ran across New Statesmen completely by accident. I was researching something in the Comic Vine wiki, and it came up in a search. I was intrigued, because in my own characters I have a group called The Statesmen. As it turns out, the idea is similar on the surface. That is: both teams are a group representing the United States- a member for each state. That's about as far as it goes.

The story starts off in September, 2064, then jumps back to November, 2047, and 2037 is mentioned. The gist is this: two scientists cracked the genetic code, and found the gene for psi-talents. They bioengineered what they called Optimen, and those eventually became the New Statesmen. They changed the world in both good and bad ways, and now five of the originals - the Halcyon Squad - are back for a Statesmen reunion. Another Statesman and televangelist - Phoenix - is running for president, and is telling voters that "the Holy Spirit is the American Spirit."

Chronologically, the story starts in England with the two scientists. Once the Optimen are public, they do some things on the world stage, and then are handed over to the United States, where the press renames them the New Statesmen. Why would England do that, you ask? Well, they were about to become the USA's 51st state, so it seemed only right. Yeah, history and the future are being turned on their ears in this story.

This is written by John Smith, and drawn by Jim Baikie, and was not written for American comics; this was written for Fleetway Quality. As much as I love my country's comics, there are subjects and places that U.S. comics just don't go very often, and as a result, they don't often seem very meaty. British comics - at least the ones I have read - are much more mature just by virtue of the fact that they are willing to play with all ideas, just as any good fiction should.

This comic does just that, and even though this first issue is just set-up, and the story isn't fully revealed yet, these characters already feel way more realized than many of their American comic counterparts. A lot is thrown at the reader in this first issue- world history, excerpts of book reviews and interviews, and clips of news programs. It all blends really well, and the only other two comics I can think of that did this sort of thing well was Watchmen and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier- books you may know from another noted English author. Watchmen had only come out three years before this title, so maybe it was their intent to emulate that book, and write something just as dark. I don't know.

Before I forget- because I so often do- the art in this is fantastic. I like that it's less cartoony, more real looking. The color... I dunno. It's typical for an 80's indie title, but maybe a bit too watercolor-ish in places? Not so much that it's too distracting, but I did notice it.

Overall, I really enjoyed this read. I particularly enjoyed that it took me more than five minutes to read it, like most comics from today. It doesn't hurt that the team concept here is similar to something I've been writing, so it really held my attention. I'm glad I bought all five issues in one go, because I definitely want to read the whole series. For the score, I'm giving it four stars, dinging it just one only because I don't have a sense for the whole story yet, and I want to leave it room to improve on the later issues.

I've reviewed this entire series: