Bonus Review:
The Union #1 (KIB)
The Britannia Project Part 1: The Flag Game
Creators:
Paul Grist, Andrea di Vito, Drew Geraci, Le Beau Underwood, Nolan Woodard, VCs Travis Lanham
Story:
Britain’s greatest heroes have gone corporate, drama ensues, and then the King in Black happens….
The characters Britannia, Snakes, Kelpie and the Choir are the team, which has no name at this point, they are being named by a public vote. They are a group of proud Brits representing different parts of Britain. Union Jack is their mentor. The issue is largely built around a training exercise and the arrival of a Knull dragon. The team suffers a great loss and is then faced with an invading enemy, the minions of the King in Black.
This book was really good, clever, and fresh when it was called X-Statix. Of course, the corporate owned superhero team isn’t isolated to just X-Statix and this book, but for me, X-Statix is the pinnacle. Creators Mike Allred and Peter Milligan crafted a humorous soap opera with humor and vapid characters that we grew to love. It is still unclear whether or not we will come to love these characters, but at this point, the story is unoriginal and not engaging. Not only is the premise derivative, but small details like a mechanical “Doop-like character” even grace the pages and reinforces the connection to the aforementioned brilliant series. The premise is interesting, but will only pay off if Grist can break from form here and tell a compelling “British” story about these characters, both building on the characters and backdrop of England.
The art was certainly the highlight here. Di Vito and Grist do some great line work here. The panels are detailed, emotive and active. The flow is wonderful and the action is seamless from panel to panel. The color was bright and lends to the mood of the book which was humorous and cheeky, even in the face of tragedy. Best of all, the issue I got had word balloons on the cover. Nice nod to books of old.
Grade: C-
There is promise here, but Grist must break away from the pitfalls of being a copy of X-Statix. It will pale in comparison. Sharpen the humor and let us see what the characters are all about. Knull is a gift- don’t waste it.
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