Written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray
Art by Daniel Acuña
DC Comics $14.99
This was actually one of the first DC books I started reading regularly and I fell in love with it rather quickly. Jimmy Palmiotti and company(with help from Grant Morrison) rework superheroes that have been neglected for nearly half a century, creating a nice cast, great story and obvious political commentary that spans eight issues. Uncle Sam creates a new team of freedom fighters to take a stand against the uber-right wing S.H.A.D.E., which claims to protect the nation against terrorists, but actually acts as the president’s personal brute squad.
The book acts as a very interesting commentary about socio-politics in America. It mostly teeters on a line that seems to want to juxtapose libertarian and extreme Christo-fascist ideals and how the right wing of this country is corrupt and hypocritical, telling us to do one thing as it does the other. I found this to be incredibly interesting, I’d never seen these kinds of direct politics in a comic book before, but it ended up changing the way I read. Since finishing Uncle Sam several months ago, I have started to dig for themes and innuendo in comic books like I see so obvious in movies and books, because it’s obviously there, but sometimes they aren’t waving it in your face. The idea that a writer can get across a view point with subtlety and style without sacrificing the nature of the story or narration is fairy impressive. Because Palmiotti and company have drawn my attention further to these ideas in comics, I am forever grateful.
Acuña’s art is amazing in this series. It borders on resembling a photoshop-like version of Alex Ross’ superheroes and looking like a very impressive shaded inking job. The way he portrays these characters, though usually with overt sexual presence, is both beautiful and a priceless addition to the characterization of the moderately large cast of heroes. I’m hoping he’ll be the main artist on the new mini-series.
Collecting all eight issues of the mini-series that sold just well enough to earn itself a second chance as another mini-series next month, this trade isn’t anything special. If you missed the chance to get the individual issues, it’s perfect to catch up, but otherwise, it’s a useless trade. With absolutely no special features, extra sketches, foreword, epilogue or commentary what so ever, this book is strictly for trade collectors and new readers. Other than that, I really, genuinely loved this series and I’m rather excited to see what the story is next month.
