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First Wave To Bring Back Doc Savage And Spirit Ongoings

By | January 19th, 2010
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DC continues it’s wave of announcements this morning, today bringing the revelation that First Wave (by Brian Azzarello and Rags Morales that starts in March) will bring with it brand new ongoings starring pulp icon Doc Savage as well as The Spirit!

DOC SAVAGE #1 kicks off the Man of Bronze’s very own ongoing, as Doc Savage finds himself the target of a brazen attack on New York City. And things get worse as tragedy befalls one of Doc’s allies, and it’s starting to look like someone may not survive the opening pages of “The Lord of Lightning” arc. Featuring a story from Paul Malmont, the national bestselling author of THE CHINATOWN DEATH-CLOUD PERIL, with art by Howard Porter, with covers by superstar artists J.G. Jones and John Cassaday.

That’s not all, though. the DOC SAVAGE series will also sport a JUSTICE INC. co-feature, courtesy of crime novelist Jason Starr (Vertigo Crime’s THE CHILL) and artist Scott Hampton. The first installments finds our star, Richard Benson, the Avenger, chasing down the criminals that have abducted one of his own detectives, sending Benson into an heated, unforgiving rage.

THE SPIRIT, written by Mark Schultz (Superman: Man of Steel, Xenozoic Tales) with art by DC newcomer Moritat and a snazzy cover by LADRÖNN, puts the spotlight back on Will Eisner’s fedora-wearing vigilante. What happens when the international crime syndicate known as The Golden Tree decides to help the villainous Octopus consolidate control over Central City’s criminal underworld? Well, it’s safe to say this is the kind of thing the Spirit handles best, even if The Golden Tree has offered up one of their deadliest — and sexiest – assassins to take down the Spirit.

The first issue also features the debut of the eight-page THE SPIRIT; BLACK & WHITE co-feature, showcasing some of the industry’s finest talents interpretation of the classic hero. And what better way to kick things off than a tale of the Spirit by writer Dennis O’Neil and artist Bill Sienkiewicz?

For some of my thoughts, check after the jump.

This is both cool and meh at the same time. I’m really looking forward to First Wave because it uses smaller characters and is written by a top notch writer whose work I love. That’s exciting to me. The Batman/Doc Savage special was also a great treat and was the first Batman story I really loved that wasn’t written by Morrison. Batman is a character that I feel is really ruined these days, so to have him in the hands of a great writer during his original time period (i.e. the guns!) is exciting. I’ll forgive the lack of a corrected costume.

First Wave also excites me because I get new stories with old characters I don’t see a lot anymore. I have never gotten to read one of the original Doc Savage stories, although I know plenty about him. He’s just that sort of character that lacks relevance in todays world, and outside of a character reference in Warren Ellis’ Planetary, there is no Doc Savage. So First Wave using him as a central character, as well as bringing back a new ongoing, is cool to me. While I’m not 100% convinced I want to pick it up, it’s definitely worth a first issue look based on the way First Wave is looking. So count me in on that.

But The Spirit? Don’t get me wrong – I love the Spirit. I think Will Eisner is a genius, and when Darwyn Cooke brought him back I loved it. I have every issue of Darwyn Cooke’s run on the recently rebooted Spirit book, and even a good chunk of what came after. But that book died quick. I think I stuck on at least a good year after Cooke left, but the quality never improved, and soon after I gave up the book died anyway, cancelled due to no one caring. And now they’ve announced to already bring him back? I was excited for him to be in First Wave since he’d be handled by a writer I feel he’s safe in, but with the new ongoing I’m going to be very weary. I don’t think anyone but Cooke really should be handling these stories anyway.

Either way you look at it, First Wave is definitely going to be pretty great if the Doc Savage/Batman special was any indication.


Matthew Meylikhov

Once upon a time, Matthew Meylikhov became the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Multiversity Comics, where he was known for his beard and fondness for cats. Then he became only one of those things. Now, if you listen really carefully at night, you may still hear from whispers on the wind a faint voice saying, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine is not as bad as everyone says it issss."

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