Book of Doom: The Mighty #1

This week’s Book of Doom is The Mighty #1, written by Peter Tomasi and Keith Champagne and illustrated by Peter Snejbjerg. I’m joined this week by Doom DeLuise and guest contributors Robb from Capes Comics and Jason from Legend Comics.

So in some ways, I was kind of underwhelmed by this book. I’m not sure how many times we can go through a reimagining of the Classic Golden Age Superhero in which the driving concept is “We are reimagining the Classic Golden Age Superhero” more than it is “Here are some characters who have lives and ambitions and desires and problems.” Because really, this is little more than an unashamed alternate take on Superman. Actually, scratch the “unashamed.” Page 3 makes it so obvious one almost wonders if the creative team feels a little insecure if they feel motivated to make such an unnecessary allusion.

But you know, all that said, I kind of liked it. As reimaginings of the Classic Golden Age Superhero go, it’s a decent enough premise. I realize Tomasi and Champagne have total control over the world they’ve created, but I enjoyed the cleverness of having Alpha One be the immediate responder and Section Omega being the clean-up crew. It’s a great reimagining of Classic Golden Age lettering. I’ll stop doing that now.

I think what I enjoyed most about this, and perhaps this was the writers’ acknowledgment of the potential rut of been-there-done-that, was that the story didn’t have as much as you’d expect about Alpha One, and had a little more than you’d expect about the “real” people who work with him. Alpha One’s Jimmy Olsen is the next leader of Section Omega, and he’s got some history as “America’s Orphan” (some themes are too good to abandon).

Issue #1 leaves us with a mystery, some teases of history, an enigmatic superhero and a relationship to be ruined. I’m not going to be counting down the days to issue #2, but I’ll probably pick it up.

Here’s what the rest of the gang had to say:

Doom DeLuise:
As I first was reading this, I initially wanted to dislike it. The first shot of Alpha One is a direct homage to the cover of Superman’s first appearance in Action Comics #1, and it made me think that we were going to be subjected to just some stupid re-telling of Superman’s story with a generic hero in his place, set in the “real world,” where comic books exist but no real heroes grace the skies.

And, in a really simplistic, short-sighted way, that’s exactly what this is. Alpha One is, for all intents and purposes, Superman, and he’s the only superhero in the entire “real” world. They make direct references to Superman lore, with jokes about Alpha One being more powerful than a locomotive, yet, beyond that, this story isn’t really about Alpha One. He doesn’t utter a single word of dialogue in this first issue, and he’s barely even in it. Instead, this story is about the clean-up crew that follows Alpha One around and does the “asking questions later” part of the job.

The main characters are Captain Shaw and Lieutenant Cole, the number one and number two men behind the Section Omega, the organization that aids Alpha One in his superheroics (an organization funded by the superhero himself). The main plot is about a runaway train that Alpha One rescues, and when Cole goes to check on the injured passengers, he finds that four of them were missing, possibly in the morgue. Shaw agrees to check into it, and the next time we see him, he’s been beaten to a pulp. And this is where the story gets interesting.

He stumbles into Cole’s apartment, but he’s taken such a beating that he can’t speak, so, instead, he points at the communicator that will summon Alpha One – – a communicator embedded into the palm of his hand. Cole sees this and presses the button, assuring Shaw that everything will be okay, but by the time Alpha One shows up, mere moments later, he can’t do anything but watch as Captain Shaw gives him a very troubled look and proceeds to pass on. From there, Cole is promoted to the position of Captain, as Alpha One ominously looks on in the sky to close the issue.

So, I’m thinking that Shaw didn’t intend to press his communicator to get Alpha One’s attention. I mean, if he’d wanted to do that, wouldn’t he have pressed it immediately rather than taking the effort to stumble to Cole’s apartment? Wouldn’t he have pressed the damn thing himself rather than merely pointing at it? I get a distinct vibe that something fishy is going on here, so I’m going to go on record as guessing what seems to be pretty obvious to me at this point:

Alpha One killed Captain Shaw.

That’s a cool enough twist that I’m definitely going to keep buying this series. Even if it turns out I’m way off.

Robb @ Capes Comics:
How mighty is The Mighty?

Begin a story in the 50’s where we have the “Red Scare” paranoia. Introduce us to a “squeaky clean” godlike character, created right out of a classic drive-in sci-fi film. Bring us to the modern day where the world seems dirty, grimy, and has elements of a private enterprise gone into big brother police mode. Keep the primary title character of Alpha One, in the background and seen only through movie reels, flashbacks, and shadowy overseeing. Throw in a “who-done it”, mystery murder and “That is How is The Mighty is unique” from Superman, Captain Marvel, Prime, Invincible, Sentry, and all those “Invulnerable flying Superheroes” that have come before.

Who is this character, who is Alpha One? We don’t know much. He hasn’t spoken yet. All we have is descriptions from Movie newsreels and televisions interviews with “Captain” Shaw, who is part of “Section Omega”. What is this organization? Some sort of superhero police force? Again, not much is revealed, other than it comes off as the official spokes-people for Alpha One. Section Omega is part clean-up crew, part media PR representation for the hero. In front of the camera is Captain Shaw, who has a special “button” on his hand that he can summon or be summoned, and is the voice to the public for this mysterious hero and his organization.

Then we learn about the young man who’s the Go-fer to The Captain. Gabriel Cole is shaping to be the books true “lead” character. It really feels like the story is being told through his eyes. He’s my point of view for most of this book and he helps you see how most of the world looks at Section Omega and Alpha One. I really view him as the “everyman” so far.

What I like about this book:
Visually, this book is awesome. I love Dave Johnson’s covers. He is easily one of my favorite cover artists. Add in the pencils of Peter Snejbjerg, and you have a wonderfully told visual story. I think his 50’s feel at the beginning and dark modern world shows his growth as an illustrator and story teller. He’s created a very interesting dingy world. (I also think the colorist had a wonderful hand in this process.)

The book is a big grimy mystery. To me, Peter J. Tomasi and Keith Champagne have written a universe of a Noir Superhero with an “overseer” feel to it. A “WHAT IF Superman was a quiet background character and was secretly plotting to run the world”. Now, don’t get me wrong. Alpha One hasn’t done anything but be heroic in this book. But, his lack of speaking and ominous flying over situations is very dark and menacing to me. It’s too soon to tell if that is the true direction of the book, but Alpha One is left very ambiguous and shadowy. Are we seeing clues? As of yet, I cannot tell. I love the dark world being built up. All color is muted in this story, both figuratively and literally. I’m curious to see what Alpha One’s reaction to Gabriel’s promotion will be. I really like the character of Gabriel. I don’t want to categorize him as “Jimmy Olsen”, but he seems to have a likable naiveté that a not yet grown, freckled side-kick should have. What will his new relationship be to Alpha One? Is Gabriel to be the true hero of the book? Only time will tell.

The Mighty really hasn’t been violent, or steeped in superhero lore, but in many ways this book reminds me of what originally grabbed me in The Preacher #1, or in Invincible #1. I’m not talking about the religious aspect or violence or the fact this character has powers. What I liked about those books was the fact that even though it was a number one issue, even though I know nothing about this world or these characters, I’m interested. The Mighty is a powerful dictator, who has reached up and grabbed me by my throat and said, “WATCH THIS!” It’s been mere pages and I know just enough to want to know more. The Mighty hooked me enough that I’ll pick up book 2.

Jason @ Legend Comics:
I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve read this comic before. I was very much looking forward to The Mighty because Peter Tomasi, the co-writer along with Keith Champagne, has been all kinds of awesome on Green Lantern Corps and Peter Snejbjerg, the artist, drew some of my all-time favorites in Starman and JSA.

The Mighty #1 is the story of Alpha One, the Earth’s only super powered being, and his handlers Section Omega. Alpha One is essentially Superman without the red and blue. The “only super powered being on earth” certainly isn’t an original concept-add in the murder mystery that is introduced in this first issue and I sure felt like I had read this one before. Oddly, the main focus of this issue isn’t on the title character, but instead focuses on the second-in-command of Section Omega and his relationship with his significant other. He is clearly the focus through which we see the story unfold, at least in this first issue. Additionally, the murder mystery isn’t exactly a mystery as the clues abound as to whom the killer is. I had to chuckle at Alpha One’s origin, the classic Golden/Silver Age idea that, instead of cancer, radiation will give you super powers! It might be time to retire this cliché.

Peter Snejbjerg is not at his best here, certainly not at the level of his excellent Starman work. He tones down the use of stylistic devices and turns in a very generic effort. The use of mostly black and white in the flashback sequences does work nicely as a contrast to the “current” scenes but that is about the only positive I could find. There is definitely room for improvement in the art department.

Overall The Mighty just didn’t do it for me. From the recycled story to the below average art this was an across the board disappointment. I won’t be sticking around for #2 and I recommend that you don’t either. Grade:D