Rod Reis

Ok, this was EXCELLENT. I can't decide who was my favourite, Roberto "ADVENTURE!" da Costa, Illyana "fuck me or fight me" "chaos bisexual" Rasputin, or Rahne "lick it lick it lick it" Sinclair, or any/all of the others who I don't have a snappy summary for... but everyone was delightful, the story was wonderful, and I can't wait for the further adventures of this crew.

Interesting start to the series. After watching the Clone Wars animated series, it will be nice to see a before the Phantom Menace look at Maul, one of my favorite characters in the Star Wars universe. I'm really interested in seeing how this arc pans out knowing what the future holds for him. I think this was a solid first issue. It provides knowledge of the bloodlust within Maul, and I really like the artwork so far. Really looking forward to continuing this series. Already have every show more issue in this mini series and now I just have to read and hopefully enjoy them. show less

Not bad! This has some interesting elements:
- Superheroes as a unionized competitor to police. It's been done, but there is still a lot of mileage left in the idea. You can explore the conflict between idealism and bureaucracy, competition between police and super heroes, public disaffection with both, HR issues involved with super powered employees. There is lots of potential.
- A more realistic look a super-villainy. If heroes show up to beat you down every time you go out to wreak havoc show more in your super villain costume, ditch the costume and stay in the realm of the semi-legitimate like the mob.
- A lack of unbalancing super-superheroes. Superman, Magneto, and other heavy hitters always seem to throw off the marvel and DC universes. I like that the super powers in COWL are toned down and don't, by their very existence, threaten the world order. show less

This review and others posted over at my blog.

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

From NetGalley: Welcome to the “Chicago Organized Workers League”- the world's first Super-Hero Labor Union! While C.O.W.L. once stood as a beacon of hope against an epidemic of organized crime and an unbeatable “brotherhood” of Super-Villains, the union now faces its fiercest foe yet-a show more disillusioned public. In targeting the last of the great villains, C.O.W.L. attempts to prove its value to the world and to each other, while staving off villainy from both outside and inside its offices.

This was a gritty superhero comic, set in Chicago in the 60s and it reminded me a bit of The Watchmen, in the sense that these heroes are more flawed than what we're used to, and they're struggling to remain essential to human society. I enjoyed this concept, but sadly I had a little trouble following the plot (it's probably me, not the plot).

I had a hard time keeping track of the characters - I think part of this was due to the fact that some of the artwork was very dark, and partly because I was reading this on a computer screen. There was a character sheet in the front, displaying the heroes and their aliases, but I was too lazy to keep scrolling back to it - this is a feature that I think wouldn't be a problem if I was reading a physical book.

But because I sometimes couldn't tell which character was which, I couldn't always follow the plot. I eventually managed to figure out what was going on by the end, and the cliffhanger did leave me wanting more.

With comics, I prefer to have multiple issues to read through, rather than just reading one volume per year, or whatever, so I'll probably wait a while before I pick this series back up. show less