Basement X

So did anyone else pick up the new series from Image this week?

It's by Marc Guggenheim and Ryan Bodenheim, where the heroes of the world have begun to discover that crime is actually on an exponential decrease, to the point it's below the 30% mark. It has the archetype characters in it, like a Batman, a Hulk, a Flash, a Wonder Woman/Superman hybrid, and more and they're the Halcyon team, who seem to be the only set of heroes from some of the description. Reminds me of Justice League Unlimited with an Ultimates edge, at least in terms of team description/interpretation.

The first issue wasn't bad, but it left me with more questions as to what was going on and who was who than the "what will happen next" variety. I've got a feeling it might read better collected than individually. I'm going to take a gamble and keep reading it but since I'll be the only one ordering it back home, I'll have to let the owner know fast if I'll be continuing on for awhile unless more people ask for it.

I picked it up and thought it was pretty fun. The villain reminded me of an Immortus/Kang type character (more like Immortus but it had elements of Kang since he visited his other identities as well). The ending threw me for a loop so I think I'll continue on.

Image has definitely had some great new books come out recently, very happy with their selection...

Yeah, he was very much a Kang type villain, when he was visiting alternate versions of himself. He seemed to be almost the central character in the issue rather than the heroes, and I really liked that spin. From what I read on character designs, he's very old, and keeps himself alive via magic and enchantments, and wears the armor to hide his body. So he's a very nice conglomerate of villains, from Doom to Kang and more. He mixes science with Sorcery as his abilities I believe.

As interesting as the title sounds, and it sounds very interesting, I have reached the limit for my pull list and can't add anymore titles to my list.

The Batwoman ongoing has taken the spot that Batman & Robin used to occupy & CHEW has taken the spot Ex Machina used to occupy.

However, I am curious as to what the plot of the title is about. Does it have to do with what the heroes are planning to do with themselves once crime is entirely eradicated or is it more open-ended than that; possibly revolving around the last remnants of the villains?

From what I gather, it's a bit of both. There seems to be only the 1 primary villain, and the earlier interviews and the like mention he has his own country, ala Dr. Doom style but that wasn't mentioned at all in this issue so I'm wondering if it's a later development or just was dropped.

So far it's started to deal with the heroes and what they do as crime drops. We see them doing the JLA style environmental protection, like saving people from fires, tsunamis, earthquakes, etc, and it highlights how they realize that Crime has gone down, rather than action itself.

I think we'll see a decent mix, or if the decrease in crime is part of the villain's plan. I'll stick with it here for about 6 issues. If it keeps up, I'll let you know if it's trade worthy.