| Comic Review | Dana Place |
The
American Way #1
Writer: John Ridley
Pencils: Georges Jeanly
Inker: Karl Story
Colors: Randy Mayor
Plot: 1961. What if Superheroes are real and each of these
superheroes help to define and give form to the spirit of
the United States of America. They give Americans hope for
their country and a reason to cheer on the good old U.S. of
A. They stand for everything we believe is good and right
about America. These superheroes convince Americans that the
world is a better place because of our values, and that
those values make us stronger. Then you find out none of it
is real, that it is all a very expensive propaganda campaign
by the powers that be. You have to be the one to explain the
death of those symbols to the American people.
Review: Every comic book fan should pick up this first
issue. Beautifully written, The American Way takes the idea
of the superhero as an iconic image and imagines it as a
giant propaganda machine by the U.S. government, and then
rubs that image into the dirt. Although this is not the
first time this has been done, John Ridley use of
alliteration really adds something special to this comic. If
this comic keeps up the same level of quality as the first,
this may be one that I want to have the entire collection
of.
Special thanks go out to Jeremy Shorr, owner of Titan Comics for allowing us to use his advance preview books for review purposes.
