Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters # 1 (of 8)
DC COMICS
WRITER: Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti
ARTIST/COVER: Daniel Acuna

The new Freedom Fighters are set to go into action for a metahuman spy agency, only to discover that they are being sent to take down Uncle Sam himself. There is only a casual link between this new crop of Freedom Fighters and the ones who had their own book briefly in the 1970s. The story, as expected, is dark, cynical and filled with betrayals and dirty-doings. The heroes are only heroes because they are acting on orders and as the promos for future issues make clear, they will soon be up against the US government itself. While the plot is interesting, none of the individual Freedom Fighters really grab the reader's attention-- despite some lengthy scenes where we learn about their identities behind the masks. The art is highly-original and expertly-done and it will likely make the reputation of this book. Overall however, there is something dispiriting about this miniseries and its characters. The Bob Rozakis/Dick Ayers version that came out almost three decades ago may have been silly and shallow compared to the present version but at least it was a lot of fun. It is hard to say that about this new miniseries.