DC Comics is doing an intriguing pulp era comic book series this spring. First Wave (w. Brian Azzarello, which means it will be imaginative and dark; a. Rags Morales, which means it will look nice”) is, I guess, an opportunity for DC to possibly open up something akin to, but different from, Marvel’s Ultimate-verse (wherever that is today), but taking a serious look at a super-hero world of the 1920s-30s. Quoting Azzarello …
Tommy guns & get planes, dirigibles & Gerraris, computers & walkie-talkies. Art deco skyscrapers overlook shantytowns. Men are bruised, and women are painted — and doing a lot of the bruising. Cities are urban jungles — and there are also uncharted mysterious countries with their own jungles as well. It’s a world where you’re guilty before being proven innocent — something that rarely happens. Little people make big mistakes and suffer the consequences. Life is cheap, and everyone has their price. Where part of the thrill of being rich is watching the poor suffer.
What’s cool here is what DC is pulling into this world. We have a 30s Batman — Bruce Wayne in Year 1-2 mode, still learning about fighting crime, still a bit the cocky playboy, still learning how to use fear. We have Doc Savage and his men as the Establishment’s heroes. We have the Avenger and Justice, Inc. as the darkly driven vigilante. We have the Spirit. We have a reimagined Black Canary. And Rima the Jungle Girl. Plus some newly imagined villains.
It looks and sounds pretty cool, and DC is flogging it hard in this month’s comics. First Wave #1 comes out in March. There’s already a Doc Savage and Spirit book in the offing. More info (and pictures) here [1].
Looking forward (and backward) to it.