DC Universe: Zero Review

DC UNIVERSE: ZERO
Written by Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns
Art by George Pérez, Tony Daniel, J.G. Jones, Aaron Lopresti, Ivan Reis, Philip Tan and Carlos Pacheco

It's hard to evaluate a book that only cost 50 cents and was probably tossed in for free with your weekly batch of comics at most shops. Do I judge it as I would a regular comic? Do I treat it as the "freebie" that it is? Is it fair to hold it to a higher standard?

I asked myself all these things before reviewing this book, but I still can't seem to find a way to review this title in a favourable light.

What is this 50 cent issue about? Nothing. It's 22 pages of fluff and thinnly veiled advertisements for Final Crisis and it's unsettling, and growing, number of tie-ins. This is not a conclusion of any sorts to Countdown if you were expecting that. It doesn't answer any questions lingering from that year long disaster. It's a mish mash of every upcoming tie-in, which dedicates about two pages to each of them, all held together by a paper thin narrative to what is probably going to be reguarded as the stupidest and most pointless resurrection of our time.

Resurrection? Well, that's pushing it a bit, as the reported return of Barry Allen by the NY Times and other news sources doesn't technically happen here. We get someone's narrative that, by the end of the issue, has a Flash lightning bolt in the corner and the issue ends with a lightning bolt over the skies of Keystone City. It seems to be confirmed by Morrison and Johns in interviews, but we don't see anything and there's no explanation here that I can see. He just comes back on a lightning bolt.

Other story beats this issue hits include a one or two page Batman and Joker interlude where he just deals some cards and alludes to a mysterious, super secret (don't tell anyone!) organization that's out to get Batman for reasons unknown, several Flash rogues and other villains listening to Libra preach about some evil lord almighty that they have to pray to for salvation as the sole reason they should follow him as the new Secret Society leader (who in their right mind wouldn't smack him upside the head and walk out? And I guess everyone gets back fine and dandy from Salvation Run), a page or two about Black Hand and some very, very inconsequential Power Rangers Corps images spliced over a two page spread that gives us no new information, and, finally, Manazons that look identical to the Spartans from 300. Joy.

Call me disenfranchised or cynical or whatever you want, but I'm less enthusiastic about every story in this book, with the exception of Blackest Night, than I was before reading it. Final Crisis, itself, is the one I'm most worried about with this Barry Allen resurrection nonsense.

Verdict - Check It. It's free, basically, so it's hard to tell anyone not to pick this up, but there's no story, the art, while featuring a great selection of artists, has no dynamic shots or anything I'd consider a "wow" factor and there's absolutely nothing here you didn't already know, except maybe the Spartans, er, I mean Manazons. If you paid 50 cents for this, it's as if you paid DC for the priviledge of reading their advertisements.

Related Posts