Welcome back my fellow historians! In this month’s issue of New History, we’re tackling a time and events I’m slightly more familiar with. The founding of the JL, The Teen Titans, heck, maybe even a Crisis! Can the book provide a definite answer to the age old question of what’s canon or not? Read on and find out…
PowerPoint Central
After reading the first issue, something has been stewing in my mind. Is this really the best way to do this? This slideshow style method of just pouring through the information saying “this happened and then this happened and then this happened!”, might not be the best way to get everyone on board. With the beginning of the DCU and the All In initiative, New History seems like a great occasion to make something that’s accessible to new readers and to really allow them to dive into what is a very very big and entangled universe. When reading through this issue though, I thought something that hadn’t occured to me last time: how much sense would this make if I didn’t know any of this already?
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I think this book is poorly written. In fact, it’s not really “written” in the traditional sense of the word. The series feels less like a story and more of a checklist that we’re going through to make sure that everyone is accounted for. I’m not the biggest fan, but I struggle to see another way to tackle this concept so I can’t fault Waid for that one. Because of this checklist nature, I can’t help but wonder if it might just be more confusing for new readers. For example, take a look at the mention of Ambush Bug:
Sure, it’s kind of funny if you know who he is, but if you don’t? You’ll probably just be wondering who this guy is, what he does and why he’s even worth mentioning at all.
Silver lining
I understand that this review may seem totally negative. It’s not that I hate this book, far from it, it’s just that the most notable thing here may be it’s flaws. Although I’ve got to say, I’ve absolutely loved the artists on this book. Brad Walker and Michael Allred are a great pick for this issue and as much as I don’t love the format for the book, it’s a good excuse to see these massive page spreads from both of them. Allred handles most of the wackier side of things, with the early Teen Titans, Plastic Man and so on, while Walker handles a majority, if not all of the George Perez stuff.
Honestly, the book is put together very very well. Obviously it’s paced quite quickly, but it’s certainly not a bore and the visuals make it nice to look at if you’re not into all that reading. And for those who are into reading, we still have our handy reading list at the back, which does highlight another problem. You can’t have everything. You’re telling me that Year One and Zero Year are both canon? Or only certain bits from each? The whole thing ends up feeling more confusing than it does a “definitive timeline” for the DC Universe.
Recommended If
- Space Age and Dark Age‘s art was a highlight for you
- You’d like to try and piece together the DC timeline
- Waid’s recent cataloguing of the early years of DC heroes has you wanting to review that period
Overall
It’s alright. The writing really is nothing special, and while the art is fantastic, it doesn’t do enough to elevate this to anything more than a glorified checklist. Honestly, I don’t know why they didn’t choose to release this as a trade, or something like a toned down version of Superman: The Definitive History. It would give you enough time to go through everything in more detail, maybe have some artwork you could pull out and use as posters. Make it more like an encyclopedia.
Score: 7/10
DC Comics have provided advance copies of books for review.
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