Commanders in Crisis #1: The Action of Mystery

[superboyprime]

'You know the mantra, "Worlds Live, Worlds Die, and nothing will ever be the same." As a reader, an event book is something to enjoy, a chance to see all your favorites interact in one giant tale. As a writer, the event series is a daunting task, where you're balancing all the characters and giving each of them a chance to shine in a very limited space. It's a hard thing to do when you're working with characters people already know. Imagine how difficult it would be to do that same style of epic storytelling, but with characters you've never heard of.' - Dan DiDio

Comments

[beyondthefringe]

As fascinatingly strange as this is...
I can't entirely wrap my mind around the concept of American Presidents as super-heroes, given that the vast majority of the ones we had have been... well, not superhero material. At least not in this sort of sense.

Sure, I've always figured that Obama might have potential, and that was realized with the Cal Ellis version of Superman. And specfic/comic writers love to grant Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln a certain level of mythic status.

But of the rest, far too many were mediocre, forgettable, at least marginally corrupt, or just plain mundane. So why should we believe that by virtue of being the first representative of a marginalized community on their respective worlds to gain the Presidency, these individuals deserve to survive their worlds' deaths, gain astounding--even reality-altering--powers, and save the world?

I guess it helps they're also all relatively young and attractive and suited for the superhero aesthetic...

It'll be interesting to see where this goes.

[owlbrigade1]

By day he was a Mild Mannered Peanut Farmer, but by night...

[lordultimus]

...He allied with a country that swore "Death to All Yankees" in its national anthem.

[mindsweeper]

The former Presidents working for this new person comes off as really weird and unnecessary to me. Is there a plot point to them all being the first ______ President of their USA? Or is that just thrown in? I've only seen these scans but they seem to lack the age, ego, confidence and dynamism I'd associate with the role.

Going from the beefcake cover to the quote to the actual pages, it doesn't seem to fit together. This doesn't look, read or feel like an epic event comic. It doesn't seem ... grand enough.

[thanekos]

It's " epic event comic " in the sense that late-90s JLA/the Authority were " epic event comic ".

[reveen]

It feels kinda manipulative to have ALL of them be like the first X minority president. Just feels really blatant as a way to idealize this concept. Like, atleast throw in Rick Dickson - America's First Openly Criminal President - to balance things out as the team antihero.

Honestly my favoured superpower President in Armstrong from Metal Gear Rising. Because he's both the most brutally honest and cartoonishly over the top representation of the concept. Though technically he never ended up in the Oval Office.

[thanekos]

" Cosmic sepsis ", or " Morrison's not the only one who can take the Bleed metaphor and run with it. "

[silicondream]

OK, so did someone kill empathy? Is our cast now incapable of empathizing with one another, or are they incapable of understanding the idea of empathy, or what? What validates Dead Guy's personification of the concept?

If you want us to care that reality's in the crosshairs, you gotta show us what is actually at risk.

[strejdaking]

Well, it's the first issue, presumably they will go into the ramifications of it next time.

[tripodeca113]

So which of the heroes is secretly evil?
Now I'm sure each of them, will be revealed to have some kind of major moral failing in their past, which they'll need to overcome to become true heroes.

[juniper6]

“ Imagine how difficult it would be to do that same style of epic storytelling, but with characters you've never heard of.”

Apparently what happens is that I don’t care what happens.

[silicondream]

Honestly, it's a silly thing to say. It's not more difficult to do that style of epic storytelling with new characters. It's easier, because reader expectations don't get in the way and the authors can pop them into any role required. It may be less rewarding, as you illustrate, but it's easier.

[laughing_tree]

But I imagine making it rewarding is seen as part of “doing it,” in many writers’ eyes. If it’s harder to make it rewarding, then that means the job is harder because making it rewarding is a big part of the job.

[silicondream]

Fair enough, though I think that's more a matter of picking your audience.

[mastermahan]

I still can't look at this without remembering SNL's old X-Presidents cartoons.

[viridian5]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the concept, but is this a crossover of characters who've never appeared elsewhere? If so, that's not a crossover, that's just an original piece of fiction.

[icon_uk]

Anyone else now thinking of a Legion of Substitute Hero like team made up of these guys?

We are the Mediocre Presidents