The Authority: Under New Management

The first arc, written by Warren Ellis, is excellent. it's every bit as good as my rosy-spectacled memory of The Authority issues I read ages ago. The characters all have moments of development and distinguishable personalities. They're generally very well-rendered by the art of Bryan Hitch, the co-creator (with Warren) of The Authority. It wraps up in a very satisfactory manner. I have no complaints.

The second arc, written by Mark Millar, falls well short of the promis of Warren's work. Distinctions between character personalities get muddied and muddled. Motivations don't seem true to the characters. The way the plot plays out feels rushed, lacking meaningful development of new elements before they're thrown against the wall to see if show more they stick, and completely, well, out of character for Warren's established world and characters. It kinda feels like Mark phoned it in, though I suspect what really happened is that his style of characterization and story development just wasn't entirely compatible with what Warren set up before Mark came along. Personalities become ham-handed, and seem primarily built around some kind of attempt at short "snappy patter" style soundbites and a strange hybrid of radical amorality with moral arrogance. Characters' politics get lampooned (accidentally, I think) even by themselves in ways that result in no reason to sympathize with anyone, especially because of the fact the whole plot is driven by impressively oversimplified, frankly ludicrous stereotypes of political opinions in general.

Meanwhile, the art in Mark's story arc, by Frank Quitely, is a bit more prone to the grotesque than I find particularly appropriate for stories about The Authority. I think that somewhere between Frank and Mark the insufficient differentiation between characters' personalities bled into the art a bit, too. At times, it seems like Frank just decided to draw characters using minor variations on the same exact pose, making them appear to be some kind of cardboard cutout series across several panels without any sense that they're distinct people.

That all may seem unreasonably harsh toward the Millar arc's principal architects. There's good in that arc. It just looks pretty bad as the immediate follow-on to what came before it, especially when the end seems to be some kind of final manifestation of the notion that megalomania is a positive trait in "heroes".

The Warren Ellis arc, bringing The Authority as we know it to a coherent close in an intriguing and satisfying manner, is good enough for me to give it four stars whether Mark Millar's arc is there or not. I think Mark Millar's would earn itself something like 2.5 stars (maybe less) on its own. show less

The title’s probably the smartest thing about this, working as it does on the level of story and creative context, with a change in leadership and also in the creative team handling the book at the halfway point of this volume. Ellis’ last stand on the title is pretty much as bold a concept as you can get – The Authority go up against God, who’s actually rather annoyed at humanity simply for existing. Plenty of carnage, but it’s all too straightforward for my tastes - once God’s power is established there’s no real twist nor tension, Ellis content to coast on the gauchely iconoclastic central idea.

Mark Millar’s take is, as usual, sadistically gleeful and hyperactive. I’ve never been a particular fan, though I concede show more that there’s a compelling energy to his best work. It’s a logical extension of Ellis’ run, particularly with regard to the character who sparks (or rather quantums) the whole story. There’s a sly dig at the origins of one of Marvel’s most famous characters and the resolution to the story actually surprised me given Millar’s tendencies and the way superhero narratives usually work. It achieves its aim of feeling like a fresh beginning for the title, but as such it makes this feel like an episode of the story rather than a satisfying tale within its own right. That though, is hardly Millar’s fault – as Alan Moore’s pointed out it’s near impossible to make a novel out of what’s designed to be an ongoing monthly title. Perhaps then, it’d have been more creatively sensible to collect Ellis’s run as one graphic novel and Millar’s run as another. Ultimately an entertaining but deeply flawed hybrid. show less

The Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch issues in this trade are still 5/5. Unfortunately they are followed by Mark Millar and Frank Quitely. Quitely's art has never really been to my taste; everyone is a little too ugly and blobby, especially after the sleek lines of Hitch. However, the art isn't the problem here. The story is. Mark Millar doesn't understand the concept of subtlety and suddenly the book is dark and disgusting, full of obnoxious people and determined to beat the reader over the head with the awful things they do.

A clever and amusing graphic novel collecting a series about a team of superheroes. There are some pretty obvious parallels to classic characters such as Superman and Batman, of course, with a few slightly-too-clever "twists" thrown in. It's reasonably well-written, the art is good, the concepts are played with amusingly...but I couldn't help but note that there wasn't too much that was terribly original in it.

Still, a good-enough, workmanlike job.

Update: There's one odd thing about this book. In several cases there are instances of "shocking" violence, which you probably won't actually be shocked by unless you haven't read comics or watched any R-rated movies in the last twenty years. They mostly involve heads being exploded, ripped show more off, or cut off. For some reason, they're mostly blurred and inked in monotone - in other words, in such a way as to tone them way down. It's actually hard to figure out what's happening.

It reminds me of TV censorship, when shows that were originally broadcast on HBO are re-run on a broadcast channel. The result is always rather painful and lame. It also feels a bit patronizing; if someone's head is going to explode, have the balls to be up-front about it! And if you can't stomach writing or drawing a scene like that (or can't get it past DC censors), change it altogether. I don't particularly object to head-explosions, but they're not exactly the be-all and end-all of shock. show less

I had never read these stories before. They're a mixed bag. The first story line has the team killing God, or at least the Earth's creator. Might have been more shocking if Preacher hadn't already done this in a more satisfying and up front way.

Then the next story sees the team go up against rogue superhero killers with no conscience. This was the riff that Garth Ennis turned into a 60-episode series in The Boys, but it's nicely thrown away here with some casual nastiness.

There's no urgent need to pick up more of these collections, but if I come across them cheaply enough, I could stand to read some more.

Read this again in 2025. Epic brutality, with funny dialogue and over-the-top everything.

Outer Dark (Cool but again fairly simple plot. Jenny Sparks dies killing God on the Millennial New Year.)
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The Nativity (Raw, funny, outrageous, cool.)

Link to a review on my personal website (might be in Swedish).