A somewhat convoluted tale, but really good.
Story: Here we have Francis Manapul, a guy who's work I came to love and admire on the New 52 Flash title, weaving a new tale about the three most famous heroes of DC Comics. Of coarse it starts off with the same thing that all books featuring these characters started with at the beginning of Rebirth, Bruce and Diana not fully trusting pre New 52 Clark, because he's not "their" Clark. I really can't talk about much of the story without spoiling it, so I'll say that there were some wonderful twists, including some monster callbacks to previous DC history! I found Manapul able to craft a deep, and very touching tale, and tackling multiple themes. I was particularly moved by one of the villain's revelations. We get a new character, and she has a helluva introductory story! Of coarse we've seen so far that anything involving the Kent...or rather...Smith family turns out to be comic gold. Each member of the trinity gets an issue where they narrate the book. It was cool to see a book devoted to these three icons give each one time in the spotlight. After reading several books already where no one fully trusts the pre New 52 Superman, it's nice to see a story where Diana and Bruce come to trust him, as they need to in order to get out of this predicament. This story also allows us to understand these long established characters a little bit more. Manapul did a great character study here, and I think that's this book's strongest point. There's also some setup for a future tale with that last page. It's nice to be able to read a heartwarming tale like this one.
Art: Manapul is one of the best artists in the industry and his art here is phenomenal! Clay Mann, who did a great job on the Poison Ivy miniseries also does an issue here. I love the way Manapul draws Poison Ivy! Adding some barely noticeable freckles adds another small detail to her character. Manapul has the best page composition skills in the industry and it shows here in the first issue. NO ONE does what Manapul does in his art! Emmanuella Lapuchino also does a couple issues here, and her art is fine too. I first saw her work for the variant covers to Green Lanterns. While I find Manapul and Mann better artists, Lapuchino does a fine job. I have to mention the coloring in this book, particularly with Manapul coloring his own work, and the coloring by Hi-Fi. This book is BEAUTIFUL! It's very vibrant and greatly reflects the tone of the book. It's bright where the narrative is light, and dark where the narrative gets gritty. Just an all around great experience!
Overall: A great start to this new series by a master craftsman. I do wish the ending would have been slightly larger in scale, but I'm still impressed by the narrative. We got callbacks, and setup for the future. There were deep themes explored, and we see our characters get hit hard, psychologically, emotionally, and yes, physically as well. There's some serious warmth of heart at the end though. I'm looking forward to volume 2!
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Top reviews from other countries
Dean Thornton
Delivered, whilst I was on holiday.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 16, 2023Lisandra
Lembra daquele episódio da liga da justiça sem limites?
Reviewed in Brazil on August 2, 2020BenjaMan64
A great tribute to DC's Big Three.
Reviewed in Mexico on January 19, 2018
