DC KO #1 review

Posted on by martingray1

Talk about a new title announcing itself. The cover to DC KO #1 shows heroes fighting inside the book’s excellently designed logo, and on turning the page you see the full, suitably messy image itself from artist Javi Fernández and colourist Alejandro Sánchez.

Happily, it lacks is the horrible fonts used by letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, which begin assaulting the eyes on the first page.

A fussy upper-case font with bonus scratchy italics, it’s way over the top, even when you realise it’s going to turn out to belong to a narrator with the personality to match. Maybe it was suggested by writer Scott Snyder – he has form in this area with The Batman Who Bores – or his editors, but Otsmane-Elhaou also tosses out the word bubbles to give us floating sentences, makes Booster Gold’s speech unnecessarily wobbly, randomly changes case in captions and even has one word balloon reflected in the glass of the Justice League Watchtower.

Actually, I quite like that one, so points for imagination and execution. Mostly, though, the book is dominated by the narrator.

Who is the narrator? That’s last-scene stuff, so I shan’t spoil that, I’ll just say that it’s as wilfully, gleefully daft as the rest of this comic, which declares itself an event. Does a comic so determinedly stupid deserve more leeway than a regular book? I wouldn’t say so, mainly I found DC KO #1 annoying, even more so when it turned out the whole business is running through various series until March next year, by which time we could all be dead anyway. Given the way the event starts, that might be a blessing… and the heroes in the first three chapters might agree.

Because they’re all nuts.

More on that later. The issue opens with the news that Darkseid is coming and they’ve a week to save their reality, but they turn down what seems like a pretty reasonable offer from…

The loose-knit gang of time travellers were first to note the beginning of the end of the world.

It’s all happened, they tell the heroes of Earth, a week previously, but they’ve wound time back and they have a way to step aside from Darkseid’s Anti-Life horrors.

Honestly, is that such a bad idea? As Time Trapper implies, a reset reality is basically Tuesday in the DC Universe. But no, they’re not having it.

As the Time Trapper explains how Earth is being transformed by Darkseid into a new Apokolips, League members begin to envisage another way.

A few blah-blah-blahs later it’s been decided that heroes will fight each other to the death, the sole survivor will bring everyone back to life and restore Earth to its regular state, and all will be well; how that’s different in result from the time travellers’ original offer, I do not know. Well, it is bloodier, I suppose.

Superman is not keen, but Batman and Wonder Woman bring him around by reminding him of what fun they have on DC Trinity Board Game Night (it’s a thing, apparently).

The good guys have seven days to prepare, and a montage shows us the day-by-day progress. That’s when we get the most lunatic proposition of the issue.

World leaders agree on something? In two days?

We also have Superman telling the world he’s the last survivor of Krypton… has Supergirl gone back to being a secret weapon, then?

Despite the gravity of the situation – space arks are ready to evacuate the citizens of Earth – the heroes don’t seem that perturbed.

As I said earlier, they’re all nuts, excited to see who can kill whom as the world ends.

Heck, look again at Superman on that opening page.

Could he be any more excited about getting a chance to use his Super-Knuckledusters? Can you, in a million years, ever imagine the Man of Steel forging such a grim weapon?

Scott Snyder can, and we’ll likely be getting a lot more of this kind of thing… actually, we do this very issue, even the super-cerebral Detective Chimp goes full-on tank in the designated arenas in the lost world of Skartaris.

Kudos to Snyder, though, for demonstrating that despite his awfully common new weapon, Superman isn’t up for killing in the arena.

Most of the art comes from Javi Fernández, with Xermánico handling an ‘Interlude’, which I guess means the time-out pages detailing prep week. It’s all fine, bar some blotchy non-faces from Fernández at the start of the issue. Everyone is recognisable, though a big part of that is colourist Alejandro Sánchez, who does an excellent job throughout. Fernández isn’t the best at facial expressions but shines in the big action scenes, and I like that as the games begin, several pages are laid out to mirror the board game played earlier in the issue by Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.

Green Lantern artist Xermánico’s work is cleaner and sharper, just right for the calm before the storm, and I like how Sánchez evokes happy days with bright blotches of sunlight on faces.

The heroes are unhinged, obviously, faffing about with picnics when they could be coming up with more ways to save the world, but it looks good.

Two chapter-starting pages feature no art at all, just Otsmane-Elhaou laying down the thoughts of our unlikely narrator (if you really want spoiling on this, I’ll put it in the Comments).

Ah well, at least it’s not overpowering any art.

Am I overthinking? I’ve never been one for shoot-‘em-up video games or mega-violent blockbusters, but I am a huge DC fan, and if this storyline is going to affect/infect some of my favourite series, of course I have an opinion. But I don’t think I’m hugely typical in my tastes so I’d love to hear what everyone else thinks of this issue, and the prospect of what’s to come.

22 thoughts on “DC KO #1 review”

  1. Martin, been waiting for your review!

    First things first. I didn’t read Snyder’s “Batman” run nor am I reading any of the new “Absolute” books. But I am a fan of his “Metal/Justice League/Death Metal” epic from a few years back. While I enjoy Grant Morrison’s handling of the DCU more, Snyder, for me, does rank up there as a writer/creator, bringing that same mix of epic mythology/continuity/humanity to his stories. And I will also argue that “Death Metal” is a very good bookend/finale to the four-decade period at DC that began with “Crisis on Infinite Earths” and ran through “Zero Hour,” “The Kingdom,” “Infinite Crisis”, “52”, “Final Crisis,” “Multiversity,” “Doomsday Clock” and “Metal.” Someone could teach a course on how those events/reboots, thanks to Snyder in particular, all tie together as one odyssey that he wraps up nicely with a bow in his “Justice League” and “Death Metal” issues.

    But I’m with you. Having read many reviews of “KO” and flipped through #1 at the store, I don’t at this point think it’s for me. I’ve read interviews where this is touted as the ultimate book for fans who have always wondered “who would win in a fight between insert heroes/villains here.” But honestly I’ve never been one of those fans to engage in that guessing game. And like you the idea of the heroes being all-in on gladiatorial combat is kind of a turn off, even if Snyder offers in-story reasons why that would be.

    I’m not going to deny that some of “KO” excites the fanboy in me. Snyder openly referencing re-boots and the “New 52/Doomsday Clock” for example. Seeing Gorilla Grodd in a key role. Skartaris!!!!!!!! (I’m a “Warlord” fan). And the idea of the Heart of Apokolips (I need to find out if that’s a Snyder creation or in fact something that was previously mentioned in prior “Fourth World/New Gods” series…).

    But, going back to Grant Morrison, I think “Final Crisis” is really the ultimate Darkseid wins story and it’s hard for me to be excited about another. Yes, that event was published 17!!!!!!!! years ago already, but it’s still fresh in my head. Also a few months ago I did a marathon read of Jim Starlin’s work on Thanos at Marvel, including the handful of hardcover graphic novels he wrote these past few years wrapping up that character’s story (at least under Starlin’s pen). And Thanos certainly had some periods of being all-powerful. It’s not Snyder’s fault I just read those Starlin stories, but it’s another reason why having Darkseid be this ultimate force isn’t that exciting for this reader.

    What I’m honestly really interested in is how Waid’s “Justice League Unlimited” emerges from this. I’ve really been torn on that book – it’s entertaining as heck but the fact it has so far essentially served as a year-long build up to “KO” and is tying into it for the next couple of issues bugs me. I’d really like to see Waid freed to just tell stand alone stories. I’m hopeful that if he remains on the title – and if that title exists – after “KO” that that’s what we’ll get.

    -Brian

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    1. Thanks for the comments, Brian. I really should read Final Crisis in one go – I wasn’t taken with it at the time, I couldn’t get my head round Darkseid as a gangster and sundry other stuff.

      Death Metal, etc, won’t be getting a reread, I appreciated the attempts to link all DC’s Crises together but it was too much; I preferred the ending to Convergence, with everything supposedly back in play. Metal was, to me, all dark versions of heroes, and good versions armouring up to tackle them, and unreadable fonts for The Batman Who Bores and co (the double-print Dark Flash was the worst of all.

      Still, I’m glad you enjoyed it, not everything can be for me.

      I’m totally with you on JLU, let’s see it unfettered from the constant chain of events. Maybe the newly announced DC Next Level will allow for that.

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  3. I could not stand the lettering throughout the book! I ended up skipping reading any white letters inside blackness; gives me a headache! And the plot was perhaps the weakest in many years. Not a fan!

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  4. I am fully onboard for this series. It’s pretty straight forward, and I do like shoot-em-up, but also that the heroes are in a lot of trouble that won’t be easily resolved, especially since this plan isn’t going to work. We’ll get some match-ups and cool scenes, but don’t for a second believe that Darkseid won’t win. . .until he loses. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but DC has been doing a great job of keeping reader interest engaged with All-In and the Absolute Universe. This is another feather in the cap of what has been a successful two year initiative that’s fired squarely at readers and the response has been positive. I’m waiting to see how Plas hands Lobo his bottom! Great review.

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    1. Cheers for the kind words. I bet I read more of this than I plan to, some intriguing surprises tend to be announced along the way when a sprawling event is in progress. Fingers crossed for fun for all.

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  5. So it was revealed today that this event will also include:
    Homelander (from The Boys)
    Vampirella
    Sub-Zero (Mortal Kombat)
    Red Sonja
    Annabelle (from The Conjuring)
    and
    Samantha Strong (the serial killer anthropomorphic bear from Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees)

    What?

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  8. I enjoyed it, for the most part. I could have done without the Booster reveal at the end (poor dude can’t catch a break), but beyond that it was mindless fun. It requires a great deal of suspension of disbelief but most of these stories do, so I figured I’d just roll with it and enjoy it for what it is.
    I honestly liked the lettering choices. The different fonts and sizes and approach to lettering all worked for me. It made for an interesting look on those pages without pictures.

    Speaking of pictures… I’m unsure how I feel about the artist. Those weird Little Orphan Annie eyes are weird, as are some of the expressions on the characters scattered throughout the book. It may grow on me as the series progresses. We’ll see.
    Now… bring on those battles! I certainly know who I want to win each round, but I suspect my opinions are going to run counter to what actually sells books.

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    1. I’m not convinced the books will actually sell, Murray – you’re the first person I’ve come across who’s excited about DC KO; on the one hand, DC says it’s just a bit of fun, on the other, it’s expensive to get the whole story and displacing regular programming in several series.

      Gosh, that lettering…

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  9. They released this early on DCUI, and I can’t say I was rimpressed. It seems to be exactly what they’re selling it as — a big, loud, punch-em-up — and while the craft here is solid, there’s nothing about how this tale is told that delivers more than what’s implied by the uninspiring premise.

    Scott Snyder aways wants to write superheroes as the coolest he can imagine, but his definition of cool seems stunted at around 9 years old — so big weapons, robot suits, cool vehicles, etc. (My definition is probably stunted at around age 15: soap-opera drama, big emotions, clever escapes.) I wish Snyder connected with me when he was in this mode, but he doesn’t.

    The announcement of the crossovers into non-DC properties just underlines how little this book is meant for me, and how little the details of this story will matter in the long run. (How could they, if those details would require signing a new agreement with the rights-holders just to refer to them?) So this is one that I’ll skim, and check out the crossovers in JLU and Flash, but otherwise will just be counting the months until its over.

    And yeah, that lettering is really annoying.

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    1. That’s a great observation on what Scott Snyder seems to think is cool; I’ve never been interested I’m heroes getting sharp armour and massive swords, I’m far more keen on battles won by clever tactics and ideas… I was never happier than when the Atom would fall over onto Diana’s tiara, which would reflect Green Lantern’s light into their captor’s eyes in elderly JLA comics.

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  10. Suddenly diving back into New 52 territory reminds me of what happened after a year or so of lovely Rebirth stories, suddenly things started getting dark again and within a couple of years Superman, Lois and Jon were off the farm and then Jon went off with Mr Oz, and similar stuff was going on in other DC books.

    Excellent point about the heavy metal album covers, it’s such a turn off.

    I managed one issue of Absolute Batman, it just seemed pointless.

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Published by martingray1

Journalist, comic reviewer, theatre critic, film lover, biscuit fan, cat indulger