DC Nation #0

The wedding of Batman and Catwoman.

Bendis’ take on the Man of Steel.

A world with No Justice League.

These three storylines promise to dominate the DC Universe this summer. As a triple threat prelude, DC Nation #0 gives fans a small glimpse of what’s to come in the next few weeks.

In ‘Your Big Day’, Tom King shows us the Clown Prince of Crime awaiting his invitation to the wedding of the century. Brian Michael Bendis reveals to us a Clark Kent very much off his game as the Daily Planet is reeling from the unexpected resignation of Lois Lane in ‘Office Space.’ Lastly, Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV and Joshua Williamson introduces reasders to the new teams that will protect the earth in the absence of a Justice League in the No Justice Prelude.

The Joker story was the best. Tom King’s dry wit shows in the fractured sense of humor of the Joker’s. I also really dug Clay Mann’s artistic rendering of Batman’s greatest foe.

I was a little confused with the Superman story. I keep hearing that Bendis is going to temporarily change Superman’s canon. I don’t think Lois’ departure from the Planet is the big change. But if it is, it’s definitely not what fans were expecting.

I absolutely love- LOVE, that DC was able to snag Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez back into doing the forthcoming The Man of Steel miniseries. The artist has basically been in convention circuit retirement. But to have the man who created almost every single iconic piece of DC merch that I grew up with is a well received blast from the past!

Finally there’s the No Justice Prelude. Boy, was that a hot mess. Three different writers author this adventure and a disconnect shows. The story involves the Justice League dissolving into 4 teams to save the earth. The teams, comprised of heroes and villains, are based on the concepts of mystery, entropy, wonder and wisdom. But I don’t think they are correct.

For instance, Harley Quinn in placed on team wisdom. Quinn is the epitome of entropy! Why wasn’t she put on that Batman led team? Plus you’ve got Zatanna and Dr. Fate on Team Wonder. But both of them seem more suited for Team Mystery. I can’t figure out if DC’s best and brightest really think these characters best reflect these principles. OR is this one of those JLA things where you switch opponents because there is too evenly a match-up between foes?

I’m really excited about all three stories. Even though I was not impressed with the No Justice story, I am hoping each individually written miniseries will be better than the joint collaboration. The biggest issue I am going to face with all of these titles however, is cost.

What appealed most to me with this issue was it’s price! You just can’t beat the cover fee of only 25 cents! It’s like 1980 rates again and I loved it. But all of the issues that spin out of this prelude comic are going to be at least $2.99 per issue or more. Estimating there’s probably going to be about 30 issues total coming out of all three storylines, there’s no way I will be able to afford this book until I find everything eventually in dollar bins or as trades.

For those of you who are into the variant covers,  you are going to have to pony up some big bucks. Those issues have cover prices of $60-90 a piece. That’s original suggested retail price- not LCS mark-up!

DC Nation #0 was a very good sampler of what’s in story for the DCU. Though not 100% happy with every story, I absolutely cannot complain about the cost.

DC Nation #0 debuted in stores and digital platforms May 2, 2018.

Worth Consuming!

Ratings:
Joker Story- 10/10 stars
Bendis' Superman: 8/10 stars
No Justice:4/10 stars
Overall: 7 out of 10 stars.

This review was published concurrently at Outrightgeekery.com.