Wednesday Comics # 1

The talent involved in this is first rate and this is visible throughout the book. DC Comics did not resort to filler and every work is a major effort, intended to look unique. Even the characters who are already appearing in their own titles (like Superman and Wonder Woman) get a new look in this comic that helps distinguish it from their regular books.

The stories are also very accessible, as if DC Comics was trying to lure non-comic book readers to pick this up. For those sick of the details of continuity, this book is refreshing in the way it just goes straight to the story. Old-timers will also be reminded of the old days when comics cost a dime and had six or seven stories inside.

The art is almost universally gorgeous. It is like the larger pages have  inspired or liberated the artists to show what they can really do. This book makes regular comics look cramped and crowded.

The most controversial thing about this book is the format. We get basically one-page stories which we are suppose to follow week after week, just like we once followed PRINCE VALIANT. This is the most imaginative experiment in American comic books in years, maybe even decades. But it is also the riskiest. People followed the old Sunday comics because it came with their Sunday paper. Will people go out and actually buy such a comic without a newspaper to back it up?  Will die-hard comic fans want to read a book where his pet character basically gets just one page for his story? It is all hard to tell. Personally, this critic enjoyed many of the stories but also had misgivings on whether I would be willing to spend 3.99 dollars a week just to get a collection of one page stories.

Whatever the result of this book, DC Comics can take pride in having spent good money to try something new instead of just coming out with another BATMAN comic. Hopefully this experiment will attract new readers as it brings us new forms of storytelling.