Project 500: Aftershock
Caveat Lector
I was given the opportunity to write this review for Silkcut's Project 500, and jumped at the chance. I have a special relationship with this series of comics, they marked my induction into serious comic fandom. Before I picked up this volume I had only glossed the surface, the pablum of DC's vast and complicated continuity. But it came to a point where I could avoid the history no more, and so I picked up this volume and studied it over the course of a weekend. And I have been a DC fan ever since.
In Brief
Aftershock? Aftershock of what? The aftershock of the entire DC multiverse being restructured! How do you follow up one of the biggest events in comic history? Well, you treat it with appropriate decorum, thats what. In this issue we see characters reeling from their individual universes being destroyed and coming to grips with Earth-1/New Earth. Then that big bad Anti-Monitor has to go and shake things up again.
The Writing
Mentioned before- just how do you cope with the restructuring of a universe? We are talking about 50+ years of comic contuinity at stake. The previous issue just rewrote that history, effectively annihilating everything but Earth 1. How do you show the effect of losing everyone you know and love on such rich and complex characters as Kal-L, Huntress, Dick Grayson, Jay Garrick and others? You show them in these wonderful little vignettes of vulnerability and shock that show the character's duress without rubbing their faces in it. Take Kal-L, for example. This is a character that means too much, is way too proud, to have an entire comic devoted to an in-depth, close-up and thereby intrusive look at his grief. Instead he is given a few well drawn but powerful panels, two Supermen on top of a building, one of them in unbelievable pain and the other doing his best to console him. What better example could there be of just how 'strong' these characters are- they express their grief in private, when they could destroy the world out of pain. This is clearly the work of writers that respect the characters they are dealing with, that know these character's personalities inside and out and remain true to them. Well rounded characters... check.
The Art
More great stuff. The most impressive part? Just check out the wonderful facial expressions. This is 1986- DC has just gotten into their more 'realist' artistic trend, and this comic is no exception. While it might not be as polished and cinematic as we like our comics to be nowadays (this is a comic that is still clearly in touch with its graphic roots), the facial expressions and the way that the whole comic moves is impressive. Just check out the panels where Huntress is bemoaning her fate, that great look of numbed shock that is captured perfectly by Perez's pencil. While the negative space is negligible, the panels are arranged in a way that naturally pleases the eye- the comic uses its strict 'no breaking out of the panel' rule to make those moments where the action does spill out of the frame (when Kal-L flies off in rage) that much more meaningful. That is deft artwork.
The Star of the Show?
Who can say, really. I read this for the Supermen, Kals El and L, but that is just me. I say this because both of them are treated so wonderfully in this comic, their characters explored so deeply, you really feel for them. But, that having been said, the treatment of any character that has just lost their world is impressive.
Overall
Wonderful! If you love comic books, if you love DC, Superman, heroes or good things then you will enjoy this. To be fully appreciated you need to absorb it in its context, so read it along with the rest of Crisis, but it is a pivotal chapter not necessarily because of the action, no, this is a more quiet, personal work. But it is pivotal nonetheless, it brings out important aspects of characters with a little plot thrown in there at the end. But there is nothing wrong with more personal, character-driven narratives such as this one, they can be the most worthwhile.
This is caesarsghost, thanking you for the opportunity to talk about this for a minute.
Happy reading!