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DC x AEW #1
Writer: Steve Orlando
Artist: Travis Mercer
Before I even get into the review, Orlando is the best person to write this in comics, as he has worked with a number of wrestlers who have written comics, is a genuine fan, and is also a top-notch comic writer. This is a book that would have been handed off to lesser talents years ago, but DC and Marvel have learned that the media tie-ins are many people’s first look at a comic, so they look to put top tier talent on them.
The story starts with a bang, as we are dropped into a Forbidden Door event with AEW vs “Wrestling Across the Multiverse” with Excalibur and Booster Gold as commentators to bring us up to speed on the set-up. The Justice League from DC is quickly introduced to investigate a tear in space time. They then follow the old Justice League formula of the team splitting up to find the pieces of the cosmic device and they each team with a member of the AEW roster.
The teams are:
Nightwing and Will Ospreay
Jon Moxley and Guy Gardner
Hangman Adam Page and Hawkgirl
Swerve Strickland and John Stewart
Orange Cassidy and Harley Quinn
Toni Storm and Zatanna
Willow Nightingale and Wonder Woman
Darby Allin and Batman
Kenny Omega vs Bane
Mercedes Mone and Aquaman
The story is laid out simply, with a full page illustration of the two characters fighting a group of villains or their henchmen and the second page showing the result of the fight. The art is big, bright, and does a better job with the super-heroes than the wrestlers, whose faces all seem a bit simplified and generic.
There’s no tension in the story until the end where we get a heel turn from one of the characters, with quick victories for each group. In a lot of ways this isn’t about a story so much as a series of pin-ups. The AEW stars get a bit of their personality across, and in a lot of ways, this is a good introduction to them as well as an introduction to the current status quo of the DC characters. They also have Excalibur and Booster Gold narrate the issue as if it is a wrestling event, which is a great way to bring the reader up to speed with so many characters and a limited page count.
Currently, Marvel and DC have revived their crossovers, both with big volumes reprinting their crossover stories from the 70s through the 90s, and also with new comics teaming Batman and Deadpool with Superman and Spider-Man coming in the next few months. There is a formula to these things, and DC x AEW follows the bare bones of the formula, but the format of a full page illustration followed by a page where our heroes win keeps there from being any dramatic tension. There are opportunities for the characters to have some interesting conflict, but there’s no room or time for it here.
It’s throwaway fluff, but well-made throwaway fluff.
On my comics podcast, we review things as “Buy, Borrow, or Ignore” and this one gets a Borrow, with a recommendation to wait for the collected edition that will have the whole story in a single book since it’s all about the pinups, not the story.
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