Writer/Artist: Uh, just keep reading

Publisher: DC, $49.99

So right off the bat, to answer one of the most frequent questions I’ve been asked at our store since this arrived, yes indeed this hardcover package is well worth the $49.99 price tag. 180 pages in an oversized format is a pretty good deal, and considering the original comics cost $47.88 retail and this package offers you two additional strips as well as sketch material in the back you’re getting an awesome package. While I loved the newsprint feel of the original books, it was a pain to refold those suckers and keep them safe. I also feel that $3.99 was a little pricey in the first place, so since the hardcover also upgrades the paper to glossy stock and places the stories in perfect order I consider the collection a win/win.

For anyone unfamiliar with the project, DC released a weekly series that folded out like a Sunday comics strip page. Every page was a single story that allowed the creators to experiment with a new style. I felt that this was a good testing ground for the talents involved to see who really understood how to pace a story and tell enough within one page a week. Now, reading them here in one collection sort of alters the experience a little, but it also gives you a handle on who was really successful and who couldn’t get past a modern comic book method of storytelling. Here’s my breakdown:

Batman by Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso- While visually gripping, I just felt that the story was lackluster and predictable. It also really didn’t stand that well on a week by week basis and was one of the few I kinda just skimmed through to get to the better parts. B-

Kamandi by Dave Gibbons & Ryan Sook- Out of everyone in the entire book, these guys got it. Week to week the story was gripping, well paced, well told, beautifully illustrated, captured the essence of the original content, and took advantage of the format. Gibbons did perfect justice to Kirby while Sook made a fantastic tribute to Hal Foster and proved that he is a talent that needs to be appreciated and watched. A++

Superman by John Arcudi & Lee Bermejo- If anyone missed the point of the format it was unfortunately this story. That’s really sad to me because I love Arcudi and the art was really nice. It’s just that from week to week this was a boring story that just felt kind of tossed together. When you read in all at once it reads as it was meant to be a single issue, and that just falls short of the format and the talent involved. C+

Deadman by Dave Bullock & Vinton Heuck-I really really like Bullock’s art and layouts in the Deadman section. The week to week narrative kind of fell apart a little and the pacing was sort of off at times, but then Bullock hit you with a really great sequence and just made the story interesting. B+

Green Lantern by Kurt Busiek & Joe Quinones- I don’t know if it’s just me or what, but Busiek’s scripting has just left me cold for the past few years. I’m not going to say bad, but for someone who did such fantastic work as Marvels and the earlier Astro City he’s just awfully boring to me right now and this story was no exception. Some pages had the right sense of action and adventure to them, but they were framed poorly and didn’t need to waste the space. With a project like that, space and page layout is the name of the game. Not to take anything away from Quinones, whose art looked fantastic. B-

Metamorpho by Neil Gaiman & Michael Allred-Another team that got the point of this series and ran with the format brilliantly. Gaiman created a fun story and Allred played with the visuals perfectly to just make this a fun read weekly and in one sitting. A-

Teen Titans by Eddie Berganza & Sean Galloway- Galloway’s art looks better on glossy, but as a whole his style just didn’t match the format. The story in general was a little flat along with the script and characterization. C-

Adam Strange by Paul Pope-The essence of successful experimentation. Beautiful lush art that captured the sci-fi pulp adventure this story needed to be while offering unique layouts and fun fluid motion. The story offered up an new translation of the character that made it unique without screwing the source material. Made me want more. A+

Supergirl by Jimmy Palmiotti & Amanda Conner- This was fun from week to week, but on one solid sit down it was fantastically fun. Conner can tell a story perfectly without the need for words and this was a spark of pure glee in the entire package. A

Metal Men by Dan DiDio, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, & Kevin Nowlan- While I was expecting to just love the art and hate the story, I have to admit that DiDio just told a straightforward fun Metal Man adventure. The pacing and script worked for the format and the art created a fluid and beautiful experience. B+

Wonder Woman by Ben Caldwell- I really really really wanted to like this section more, and while the art is gorgeous it’s just so damn tiny I can’t appreciate it to the full extent I should. It felt like Caldwell had such a huge story to tell and he refused to trim it to the size constraints of the project. While it felt like he was going for a sort of Winsor McCay tribute it was just too cluttered. The story itself was fun and the art is beautiful and it looks better on the glossy paperstock, but regardless of if you picked this up as the single issues or the hardcover it was just a pain to read this section. B-

Sgt. Rock by Adam & Joe Kubert-Great to see Kubert on Rock, and while the story was well told and visually great it was a little slow and kind of slogged it’s way to the fairly obvious ending. B-

The Flash by Karl Kerschl & Brenden Fletcher- I love Kerschl’s work and he did some fun experimenting with the format here. The split in storytelling methods and experimental layouts was just interesting to see and he managed to create a fun super-hero story that tried to be a little different with a limited amount of time and space. A-

The Demon & Catwoman by Walter Simonson & Brian Stelfreeze- Another case of the art was nice but the story and scripting were a little lackluster for the project. Not bad by any means, but certainly boring on a week to week basis. C+

Hawkman by Kyle Baker- I hate Baker’s new style so much it goes beyond words. Seriously, I mean I read this section but I had to force myself to read it. The story was almost bearable, but the sheer ugliness of this new computer style of his just make me want to stab my eyes out. D

So, was every story perfect? Far from it, but as a whole the project felt like a success. Interesting takes on old characters, a way to spotlight some of the lesser known properties, and the opportunity to experiment with a vast pool of artists and writers. DC really needs to revisit this project.

Overall Grade: A