The Almighties #0 is a new R-rated superhero comic book written by Sam Johnson, that tells the origin stories of the members of the titular team. This comic cleverly pokes fun at the superhero comic genre, making sly, and not-so-sly references to several iconic characters, particularly of the Marvel brand.
The book starts off with a quick origin of the armored hero, Maxi-Tron (Iron Man?) followed by our first meeting of the schwarma-wielding Stefanos and, as the cover says, the dubious Joe Cyborg. Stefanos mentions a mysterious incident involving someone named "Coleslaw", which we later find out is Agent Phil Coleslaw (do I even have to point out who this one is?). They then go on to evaluate the team in order to decide who stays, and who goes.
Via a set of dossiers on each member, we are introduced to the British punk-rocker-turned-werewolf, Nite Fang (the Hulk of the group), the beautiful and powerful Canadian superheroine, Ms. F, who was bitten by a radioactive dust-mite, and the mysterious one-man A-Team, Mason. The dialogue in the Ms. F portion was some of the best in the book, other than all the exposition, and made me want to know more about her. The amount of exposition was one of my biggest gripes about this issue, as I felt like I was being spoon-fed information, instead of having it come naturally. Hopefully though, this will allow for future issues to push forward with the story and showcase the great potential this series has.
I loved the animation in this book, except for one part...the introduction of Wayne Winston. I, personally, was not a big fan of the animation switch in the middle of the book. Now, don't get me wrong, I actually liked the animation itself, it's just that this change made the story of the immortal Wayne Winston (Wade Wilson?) feel completely separate and disjointed from the rest of the story. At first I wondered if this book was an anthology, and this was the next installment, but it became clear that it wasn't. There was also a little too much time spent on this particular origin in comparison to the others. If it had been a bit shorter, and the animation had been the same, the connection wouldn't have been lost, and it would have been a more enjoyable part of the story.
The story then returns to the animation of the first part and shows us the fate of Agent Phil Coleslaw. Joe Cyborg's boss, Big B (who I'm pretty sure is supposed to be Barack Obama) sends us on a wild adventure as Stefanos travels back in time to try and stop Coleslaw from getting killed. We wind up at the climax of The Almighties first mission against their old Nazi leader, a man in a white mask (there version of Red Skull) and his giant killer robot named Adolf 3000. Future Stefanos lets out his battle cry, WHO WANTS SALAD?, and tries to stop "Whitey" and his robot from killing Coleslaw...but fails. He then returns to the present to find that things aren't as he left them.
This was definitely an interesting comic, and is one I will be checking out future issues of. I need to know how Stefanos will fix the broken timeline, and I look forward to seeing more from these characters.
The Almighties #0 is Out Now and available at www.almightiesamass.com and www.comixology.com
Sounds rad!!
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