DCU Comic Book Reviews

SALVATION RUN #1

Hellish New World

January 2008

Written by Bill Willingham

Pencils by Sean Chen

Inks by Walden Wong

Cover by Sean Chen

Synopsis

Rick Flagg and Amanda Waller discuss the recent actions of many super-villains and agree that sending them off Earth would be the best possible course of action to make the world a safe place.  Later, several of the Flash’s rogues find themselves on a new planet.  Every so often they are attacked by unknown creatures, forcing them to work together to survive.  Elsewhere, the Joker awakens to find he is surrounded by other villains.  He attempts to get them to do his bidding, but they are not interested in following his orders.  Just then, the Rogues arrive.  They tell the others that the planet is dangerous, regardless what Amanda Waller told them.  The Joker believes the Rogues are lying, but when Girder is attacked, the other villains begin to believe them.  The planet is not a paradise.  And those watching the planet and its new inhabitants are responsible for making it dangerous.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

There are essentially two stories involved in here.  The first is the story Willingham wants to tell:  what happens when villains are given a place of their own to live.  The second is the opposite story:  what happens when the heroes of Earth realize what Waller and company have done to the villains.  Strangely, I am more interesting in that story than I am in the tale told in this mini-series.  Perhaps that might explain why I am so ambivalent about this story.  I just can’t seem to generate any response to this issue other than an eh feeling. 

Perhaps it has to do with the fact that it is hard to identify with characters that are supposed to be evil.  The basic premise of comic books is the battle between good and evil.  Now, we get the battle between evil and evil.  All of the characters are evil, even the so-called good characters such as Amanda Waller and Rick Flagg.  And I can’t get that excited about it.  I think it is an interesting twist that the villains are being portrayed as the victims and if the story focused on that angle, this might be an interesting mini-series (I would love to see a villain reform because he experiences for himself what he has done to others) but the thrust of the narrative seems to focus on the villains fighting each other.  So, who do you root for?  Whichever villain is cooler looking?  Or the villain that usually battles your favorite hero? 

The other problem lies with the basic execution.  Based on the story, the villains are allowed to keep their costumes and their weapons, but are not given medical supplies or some food?  This is so incredibly backward.  Granted, the costume and weapons thing is basically there because for many of these characters, that is how they are defined (and recognizable).  But, a more interesting scenario is to force the characters to get by, to live without their villainous “crutches.”  It would be curious to see which characters would adapt, becoming decent citizens and trying to build a life while others remain evil at heart and continue to act as they had in the past.  That, however (again) is not where Willingham is leading this mini-series, which is more and more just looking to be an excuse to have a slobberknocker among villains.

 

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