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The New 52: Men of War

Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 5:31 am
by Crawler
I was sure I wasn't going to like this one. I'm not much for war movies or tv shows and really doubted that I'd like a war comic.

Boy was I wrong. Not only did Men of War surpass my expectations by leaps and bounds, it may be the second best book this week. I know I said Batgirl was second earlier in the Batgirl thread, but I seriously think that this is very nearly on par with Swamp Thing for writing and art/writing integration.

I did not care at all about the subject matter, the concept, the characters before reading this issue. I had no emotional investment.

Now I will be very sad if I can't get the second issue.



BONUS: It comes with a backup story that illustrates beautifully how NOT to write a military book, standing in stark contrast to the main story's goodness.

The New 52: Men of War

Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 6:23 am
by Bamfette
I really liked this one too. it was so... grounded and real, and then you have this flying brick out of nowhere causing massive destruction, and you know you're in the DCU, and kinda seeing these supers through the regular guys eyes. Pretty interesting, I thought.

edit - Another fun aspect of this the whole 'who is it??' question relating to the supers. It's definitely a pair of flying bricks, one streak is red, has no cape, and is definitely male. The other is purple, maybe blue, is of indeterminate gender and we can't tell about a cape, either. The red one starts things off by smashing through buildings and smacking into the ground hard enough to cause an explosion and fire.

So. Red costume could fit Superman or Captain Marvel. the problem is both have capes, and typically don't engage in methods as violent as smashing into the ground hard enough to mimic a bomb going off. Also, the purple streak reacted to the destruction, it says to me the purple streak is the 'good' guy.

The MO of smashing into things is pretty much Apollo's signature move, and he has done the 'smash into the ground hard enough to cause an explosion' thing before while on The Authority. But his costume is yellow and white. He traditionally leaves a bright white streak of light in his wake when moving fast. On the other hand, he has no cape, and technically doesn't have a costume yet. He may be wearing a red shirt. He It also fits his last appearance in Stormwatch, along with Midnighter, the two of them were implied to be running off together at the end of Stormwatch to engage in some spectacular ass-kicking... (d'awww... <3 I love them so much) with Martian Manhunter hot on their heels.

Purple streak could be Bizarro, which could fit with Superman, Black Adam which would fit with Captain Marvel, or Martian Manhunter, which would fit with Apollo. Could also be Superman, the red and blue merging into a purple.

MO wise and plot wise, Apollo and Martian Manhunter (or maybe Superman. Holy shit, how awesome would that be?) fits best, imo. but the colour of the red streak is problematic.

[Edited on 9/9/11 by Bamfette]

The New 52: Men of War

Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 9:49 pm
by Crawler
Until we started talking about it last night, I had just assumed the red streak was Superman. Then you pointed out...no cape.

While I assumed the red streak was Superman, my theory was Bizarro as the purple streak.

But not I'm not nearly as sure, and given the fact that I assumed it was Supes, even when it was clearly NOT him, combined with the level of writing, I think the red and purple streaks are a purposeful misdirection. I like your idea of Supes being the purple streak (red + blue = purple), and the other streak being (hopefully) Apollo, possibly with Midnighter somewhere on the ground. But that's all hopeful speculation...

The New 52: Men of War

Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 10:05 pm
by Bamfette
Well, the place was filled with insurgents, right? that's why Rock and co. were going in. That is actually right up Midnighter's alley, and it seems he's going to be the one calling the shots as far as his and Apollo's bastard-killing spree goes. I know none of it is canon for THIS Midnighter, but assuming they're using their past characterization as a basis... Midnighter would actually just open a Door in the middle east and start kicking terrorist heads off, just... 'cus. On the other hand, military targets REALLY aren't Superman or Captain Marvel's style. like, at all.