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Wednesday Comics #12
So this is the final chapter of Wednesday Comics and I was really interested in seeing how all these stories ended. Of course, this thing is only three weeks late.
-Batman- So Luna tossed herself out a window, killing herself, but not before figuring out that Bruce is Batman. This started as a cool noir-ish book but the limitations of only 12 pages made the story hit a snag it never really recovered from to its fullest extent. It was still a cool story but not as big as I thought it would be. 1/1.
-Kamandi- Orora’s dead thanks to her injuries and Kamandi is wondering if he really is the last boy on Earth. This was a touching, poignant ending and this is easily one of the best crafted stories featured in Wednesday Comics. 2/2.
-Superman- The battle is over and Superman calls Lois and tells her he’s gonna have some of Ma’s pie before going home. What a great ending! . This never connected for some reason. I have to say, the art of Barmejo was beautiful and all the problems I had with this was on the writing end. 2/3.
-Deadman- Deadman returns to where he was, with the threat of Kalak gone. Rama Kushna shows up and tells Deadman that his problems are only just beginning. This was an early tale of Deadman that adds a lot to his character and even though I’ve never read anything with Deadman; I’m interested in the character now. 3/4.
-Green Lantern- Green Lantern has saved the day and he can revel in Dillon’s heroes welcome. This had a very good Silver Age vibe going on and it was enough to power a story that at times seemed a bit slow to develop, but again that was more because of the gimmick rather than the writer. 4/5.
-Metamorpho- Metamorpho and the rest escape from the pyramid’s explosion in an ending truly befitting of the style and humor that Allred and Gaiman represented here. 5/6.
-Teen Titans- The Titans use some mind tricks of their own and they are able to stop Deathstroke and Gizmo. This was more reminiscent of the cartoon than anything else and that same element that made the cartoon fun made this fun. 6/7.
-Strange Adventures- Strange chills with his girl as he wonders what she is like on Earth. This was another story that seemed to end at 11 with the final issue just having a nice conclusion. I love Paul Pope’s art and this earns a point for that. 7/8.
-Supergirl- Supergirl is knocked out and when she reawakens she finds that Krypto and Streaky have eased the tensions and the aliens fly off, but not before we readers see they were also cats and dogs. This was an all-ages type title that I didn’t like at first but once I got the idea of what was being done I put away my grown-up critical lenses and just enjoyed it. 8/9.
-Metal Men- The Metal Men are all gone (except Mercury) and Magnus promises to rebuild them all. This looks like the only title that will lead into an ongoing book (or ongoing back-up feature). 9/10.
-Wonder Woman- Wonder Woman saves the day in the usual Caldwell fashion as we get tons of story points in here and the dream-like ending brings this title around full-circle. 10/11.
-Sgt. Rock- Rock is saved but he finds out that the Nazi doctor who saved him was someone his aunt was searching for. That really added another element to the story that I think would’ve made me enjoy it more if it wasn’t saved for the end. This was the strongest issue of the twelve. 11/12.
-Flash- This has one of the most unique endings I’ve seen, with Iris reading the story as Flash readies to take her out. It’s like Iris was reading the story we were reading. This was good from start to finish. 12/13.
-Demon & Catwoman- So Morgaine is defeated and Catwoman and the Demon are ready for some luvin’. I have never liked this. 12/14.
-Hawkman- Hawkman ends the threat of the dinosaur. The aliens were cool, Hawkman stopping the planes with the birds were also cool, 6 issues of Hawkman fighting a dinosaur? Not as cool. This one petered out in the end. 12/15.
-The Bottom Line- Wednesday Comics I think can be considered a success. Some of the artists and writers on here showed some great originality, especially Caldwell, who may come out of this a great star. Some writers took a while to adapt to the single page story-telling while some tales never quite got onboard. I think that the Flash, Metamorpho, Wonder Woman and Kamandi stories were heads and shoulders the best while Superman and Demon & Catwoman never found their rhythm. The rest of the storied either were good the whole way through (Batman) or steadily improved (Supergirl). There was something for everyone in here and if it is collected it is worth the purchase. However, I don’t think a follow-up will be met with much fanfare. The format gimmick was cool but it got a bit hard to read some of these and fold them back up the way they were which loses some points with collectors. Overall, Wednesday Comics isn’t going to be considered a runaway success, though it isn’t a colossal failure either. I’m sure it turned in good numbers for DC but not enough where they’ll attempt it again.
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