Wednesday Number Ones is a weekly feature here at Top 5 Comics. We take the books that are premiering a first issue from that week and give a quick opinion on them. From time to time we may also include more than issue number ones in this feature. If a noteworthy one-shot or the first issue of a new story arc is released, we may talk about it in this feature as well.
Writer: Landry Walker
Artist: Eric Jones
Artist: Eric Jones
Company: Image Comics
While slightly light on giant waves of meaty story, this first issue of Danger Club provides a few interesting concepts and a whole hell of a lot of fast paced, in your face combat. The gist of the story focuses on the various sidekicks after an Event (we don't know what) has wiped out all of the superheroes. Think Lord of the Flies but with super powers and you have some kind of idea of what has happened. Walker's characters are slick and while a few feel like analogues for people we already know in the land of comics, there is ingenuity and fun in these pages. There's also hardcore violence and some exceptional art. Eric Jones has been around in the industry for a while, but I first remember him (and Walker for that matter) on Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade. There he was definitely using a more animated style for his work, while with Danger Club there's a much tighter feel to the line work. He still achieves the highly emotive characters though and he certainly has a knack for changing up styles and choreographing a dynamic action scene. All in all, it's a solid first issue that gives you what you want and doesn't lay out everything all at once, because everyone knows that surprises are fun and have a tendency to make you want to come back and see what happens next.
Writer: Alan Moore
Artist: Erik Larsen
Company: Image Comics
The final script by Alan Moore for Supreme finally sees the light of day and...It's, as expected, good. I was never huge into the character, but the Superman analogue and the fun things that he was able to accomplish with the very Silver Age-ish feel to the proceedings always had the way of hitting the right chords. This issue, which sees our hero courting the lovely Diana Dane and an old villain finally find a way to enact some vengeance, does a good job of getting people up to speed with what's been going on while not alienating people. The characters still feel real and I love seeing Supreme's kid sister make an appearance. There are a few wonky and off key moments spread around, perhaps moments where the script (which I imagine has been sitting around in a drawer for awhile) seemed a little dated and needed to be manipulated or changed to make it feel more new. Then there's Erik Larsen's artwork. Savage Dragon was always there when I was growing up, and while I do think Larsen is a talented artist, there's always been something about his work that struck me wrong. He packs his panels a bit like George Perez, so you are getting a ton of stuff to gander at, but his lines have the tendency to feel a little shaky to me and his character's face (especially their teeth) always seem a bit off. While I'm not sure where this title is going to be going, as this is the last script that they had from Moore, Image does seem to be on a bit of roll with their releases. Color me curious to see what Larsen has in store for us.
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