Thursday, May 28, 2009

Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance #1

Let me start by saying I'm a big Joe Casey fan. But after reading the first issue of Dance, I feel like I've seen this before. I'm amazed how similar this feels to the most recent launch of Youngblood. The supporting cast PR men, the pre-fab HQ and fanbases, even some of the dialogue seemed very similar. I don't think that many people read Youngblood, but I picked up every issue Casey did and really liked it. I know the story won't be concluded, so maybe Casey is getting to handle that kind of story here in the DCU, but still... it feels so familiar. As far as the leads, other than Most Excellent Super Bat, I haven't really been won over by anyone yet. The characters are interesting even while they are unlikable, but I'm not sure these guys count as heroes at all. And since I come to comics for a heroic fix, I don't know if there is enough here to keep me coming back. The series is well-written and the dialogue does sparkle in places, and I loved the bit with the tiny flying gal looking for Japan from their space station, it was a nice moment from someone who's suddenly in a very different place in life than she's used to. But the overall tone is so familiar.

Chris Cross is one of my favorite artists but he's a little more restrained here than I'm used to. I loved his work so much on the comedy-tinged Captain Marvel series that I think he's the right choice for the series' sensibilities, but I'm not sure if I love his take on the Super Young Team's oddball costumes.

Fair

2 comments:

Mayor McCheeseSteak said...

Interesting comparison to Youngblood. I've never read Casey's work on that book.

To me this seemed a lot more like a rehashing of Casey's earlier work on The Intimates. A group of obnoxious Gen-Y teens with fairly undefined powers who are more obsessed with Myspace than saving the world.

Perhaps this is best seen as an amalgamation of the two?

Timbotron said...

You're right, this is similar to that too! I guess at this point we might just say that Casey likes his media-heroes.

His Youngblood is actually pretty good, it just seems the story will never be finished since Liefeld came back.