Let’s go ALL IN with DC … Week 7!

I want to keep going with these, because there are some interesting things coming up, but once DC got past the ALL IN issues of the ongoing series, they’re releasing the new ones on a very staggered schedule, so last week we got one new issue, and this week we get … one new issue! Sigh. I don’t really want to get the second, third, fourth et al. issues of this initiative, so I guess I’m just going to have to deal with it. Maybe it will make me stop doing this sooner than I wanted to? We shall see. For now, let’s get to the latest!

The Question: All Along the Watchtower #1 (“Death on My Doorstep”) by Alex Segura, Cian Tormey, Romulo Fajardo Jr., and Willie Schubert. $3.99, 20 pgs.

As you might recall, I’m a big fan of doing different kinds of genre fiction within a superhero universe, and Segura has recently shown that he’s good at murder mysteries, so a murder mystery set on the Justice League Big-Ass Satellite ought to be groovy to me. And it is! Renee Montoya, recently fired as Gotham City Police Commissioner (for, I should remind people, VANDAL FUCKING SAVAGE) and apparently a recovering alcoholic (I hope that’s been established, because olde-skool Renee was not, as far as I recall, an inveterate drinker), has taken up a position as JLB-AS Cop, and Segura spends this first issue introducing the audience to said Satellite and the players within before ending with a dude dead in his room. Oh dear. He does a good job with it, too – we get the Big Three making the pitch to Renee early on, with Wonder Woman telling her that something is wrong on the Satellite but they can’t quite put their finger on it, then we get the Blue Beetles (Blues Beetle?) as part of her team: Ted Kord is the Guy In The Chair, while Jaime is on Endless Monitor Duty, it seems. There’s Animal Man in an ugly new costume (how long before they return to the classic look?) and a Challenger of the Unknown, who are in charge of the “zoo.” And there’s Batwoman, who’s a field agent, which doesn’t make Renee happy as they’re no longer an item and she’s all sad about that. Some weirdo super-villain attacks, because we need some action, but Renee figures out that it’s a distraction, which leads to the reveal of the dead body. Oh dear!

Overall, this is a solid beginning. Segura gives us a lot of information, but it’s handled pretty well. Sure, it’s Renee internally narrating, so occasionally it’s the tiniest bit awkward, but not too bad. The dialogue is pretty good, though, and he manages to differentiate well between all the various characters, from Renee’s ennui early on in the book to Jaime’s enthusiasm about being part of the Justice League and just being able to do something. He clues us in to some of the changes that have occurred in the wake of the “gene bomb” from Absolute Power (yes, I know that’s from Invasion!, but it’s the same thing, innit?), which he can get away with because Renee is a cop and she’s new to the situation, so of course she would note things (like Beatriz having ice powers now, because she and Tora … switched powers?). There’s a lot in here, but Segura does a good job with it. I don’t love the actual idea of the series, not because I don’t dig superhero murder mysteries, but because it feels … too sudden? or recent? I mean, the Justice League Big-Ass Satellite hasn’t been around very long, and it’s supposed to be some kind of Shining City on the Hill, and already there’s a Snake in Eden? It feels like we haven’t even had a chance to see what’s going on with the Brave New World of Everyone’s In the Justice League Now, and already things are rotten. The timing of the series is what bugs me, like this should have been something that they slowly build to in Waid’s JLU book, or something. Doesn’t it feel weird that, after one appearance of this new Justice League (in the issue that kicked this whole thing off), things are already going to shit? It just feels odd.

That’s not Segura’s fault, though, so it’s not going to color my assessment of the actual issue. Tormey’s art is pretty good, too, which is nice. The best panel in the book is, unfortunately, the one with Kate Kane, as Tormey and Fajardo do really nice work with the scenery and the coloring – it’s unfortunate because, in the grand DC tradition, it’s a boring splash page: Kate is just crouching on a balcony surrounded by greenery, and while it’s a beautiful drawing, did it really need to be a splash page? It’s still a nice-looking comic, and Tormey handles the fight well – it’s not long (just four pages), but there are a lot of moving parts, and it’s never unclear what’s going on. I do find one panel hilarious, though – Renee walks through a “precinct” where we see a bunch of superheroes hanging out. I mean, everyone is drinking, which is kind of funny (Dr. Fate, really?), but there’s the Shining Knight (I assume?) with his horse, which cracked me up, and there’s John Constantine. This is why I don’t love the de-Vertigo-ization of some of the DC characters, because why is John Constantine there? I get this is the All-Inclusive Justice League, but would they really ask Constantine to join? I mean, they have Zatanna, so do they really need Constantine? And would he really accept the invitation? Even now, when he’s back in the regular DCU, he hasn’t been written as a joiner, so his inclusion feels off. Finally, he’s lighting a cigarette. On a satellite. In space. In 2024. There is no way the Justice League would allow smoking on the JLB-AS, even if it’s the size of a city. That really cracked me up.

Anyway, this is a solid beginning. It’s a six-issue series, so I assume there’s going to be a lot that Renee has to unravel. I’m looking forward to going ALL IN with The Question!

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ½ ☆ ☆

One totally Airwolf panel:

All righty, that’s it for this week! What will this week bring? We shall see!