Review: DC KO: Superman Vs. Captain Atom #1

D.C. K.O. : Superman Vs. Captain Atom #1 came out this week, a tie-in to the latest big company-wide crossover D.C. K.O.  

This event is one of those 'don't think about it too hard' sort of stories for me. If you try to actually understand what is happening - a Heart of Apokolips chaos engine pitting characters against each other in a tournament to create the King Omege to fight Darkseid - you'll probably get a headache. Or say 'comic book science'. 

A bigger problem I have with this event is it was built as a bracket style tournament but the first round was a battle royale. So why put out a bracket for fans to fill out? Why not do two promos? First pick the 16 Battle Royale winners and then set up the bracket for fans to fill. It sort of let some air out of the fun.

Still, everyone likes a good brawl and certainly Superman vs. Captain Atom is a great brawl. Writer Joshua Williamson does his best to inject some characterization into the proceedings. The point of this book is 'who will go the farthest' to get this power. No one thinks Superman can take that step. And Captain Atom, who has flirted with being a despot, just might. There are some good bests here. 

Sean Izaaske is on art here and has a lot to contend with. Multiple rounds. Multiple versions of the characters. Multiple settings. And an ending that veers into a Grant Morrison-esque fourth wall busting. The work is pretty impressive.

But in the end, this seems like a wrestling match with a good pre-bout speeches.

On to the book.

Leviathan Theory

Okay.

Please settle down as this may be a rambling post.

It will be an attempt for me to put into words my theory on who Leviathan is. Or maybe more like who are in the group Leviathan.

But it will be trying to connect thoughts and feelings and guesses I have been working through as clues and scenes unfold. And in that way, it will be akin to a neural map of my mind, the blogging equivalent of a conspiracy theory connected by yarn and thumb tacks.

At its essence it boils down to this inescapable Watchmen feeling that is draped over everything. And you know when the Watchmen are discussed in comics, you need to remember their origins, the Charlton heroes they were based on.  And when you think about those heroes, you need to think about their histories in DC Comics.

And so I beg you to stay with me here, as I lay out the crumbs of my case, hoping I can sweep them together in your mind and form a cake.

I also freely admit that this very well could represent anchoring bias. Anchoring bias is when you make a conclusion early on and then twist all further incoming information (even ignoring new information) so that it fits your conclusion. I made a leap early. And this is my anchor.

On to the details.