 The Authority are a new one on me, but they're a pretty cool bunch. The world's favourite SWAT team - Apollo, Jack Hawksmoor, The Midnighter, The Engineer, The Doctor and Swift - are up against an formidable adversary - Planet Earth.
Pissed off with centuries of abuse, Earth strikes back with every natural disaster in its arsenal - but that's not all there is to deal with. A rogue Doctor with murder on his mind and a new Authority lurking in the wings makes for a snowball of a graphic novel with loads going for it.
To kick off, the artwork in the book is fantastic. Very clean and easy to follow - something not all graphics succeed at - Earth Inferno tells it's story brilliantly.
But what makes it a success is its closeness in spirit to the Watchmen. Each of the characters are fully formed; each have their own hang-ups or baggage to deal with, and have their foibles based in humanity . . . and there's another thing that doesn't happen (successfully) in many graphics. Dark in all the right places with more than enough subtle humour and well delivered one liners to line the pockets, it's an easy and very enjoyable read.
Then again, you wouldn't expect much less coming from Mark Millar - author of Dredd, Superman Adventures and the awesome Red Razors. Backed up with the talents of Quitely - whose work on JLA: Earth 2 and Batman: the Scottish Connection must surely have counted as huge stepping stones to the top of the industry's pile - there is not much to moan about here.
Earth Inferno loses a review star only for the 'other stories' bit that's been tagged on the end. What's the point? It's perfectly capable of holding its own as a skinny book. There are far worse crimes than a bubblegum hit that lasts 35 minutes.
Refreshing . . . and looking forward to the future . . . now that there is one. :: Sion Smith |
