Last week I looked at a screen capture comic for the MMO City of Heroes. The comic was dull, the dialog was boring, and the fight was shoehorned in. I couldn't even make fun of it, it was so dull. So this week, I decided to treat myself to a good comic. This week I decided to read Issue Zero (yes, I know it says one but it is lovingly called Issue Zero) of the City of Heroes Comic. So lets get right into it, shale we?
I like this cover. It has the characters we'll be focusing on in the front, all in pretty good poses that somewhat tell you what they can do. In the back is the Citys Biggest hero and behind him is the shadowy evil villain.
The comic opens with our hero, Thunder Clap, talking to a kindly old man about how this city needs more heroes. Pretty much, the first page is set up and that is a good thing. Back when this comic came out, I am sure there were tons of people who had no idea what City of heroes was or what the story was. After all, after so many years in World of Warcraft, this new game was strange and different.
Our first 2 page spread is of a hero flying over Atlas Park, over to a hazard area. Thunder Clap, who is new to the burg, still needs kindly old man to tell him anything. So TC became a hero here knowing nothing? But I am sure he did the tutoril level at least, right? Well old man leaves TC to fend for himself and TC goes over to the Hazard Zone. He is having trouble trying to open the door when someone comes from the inside and wait. . . . Batman and Robin?
Come on! That is so Batman and Robin. I mean look at them! Anyway, TC jumps right into the zone. I am sure he'll be fine and nothing bad will happen to him at all.
Or maybe not. The freaks are pleased that they shot him but he soon comes back, energy gloves a-firin'. Somehow he not only chases these guys off but also breaks a bit of roof. I could never break structures when I attacked. Soon, after a fire fight and a chase, he tackles one of the freak out of an alley and soon sees a real fight. At least 5 freaks fighting against 2 heroes.
Of course, being heroes, they ask for TC's help since there are a few of these freaks and TC is more then happy to lend a hand. The heroes banter a bit while the freaks get over run. One Freak tries to run away but TC quickly blasts him. After the fight, we learn not only that these thugs are part of a gang called the "Freakshow" (see, I was calling them freaks for a reason) and that the other two heroes are called War Witch and Apex. They ask if TC wants to join their team and he is more then eager to do so. Apex then gets a message from the Freedom Phalanx, which is pretty much the Justice League, about their next mission.
The next mission takes place in a huge tower. Of course the tower is quiet, too quiet, and soon a sniper rapid fires on our heroes. The sniper misses all his shots (after all this is fiction) and TC, War Witch, and Apex take care of the villains. But that is not all of the threats. Turns out there is an Acme grade bomb on the top floor!
TC's plan to defuse the bomb? Just randomly rip out all the wires. Normally, people would need years of training to do anything close to bomb defusing, but screw it. TC is a super hero. He gets lucky in defusing his bomb and the other go on the hunt for the other bombs that TC told them about. Apex gets to his but War Witch seems to be having a problem getting to hers. TC is on the scene of course and provides cover fire, but not enough. War Witch is hit by a huge killer robot!
Why do I get the feeling that Megaman is somewhere close by? Anyway, while they fight the killer robot, baddly I might ad, a gloved hand comes in and yanks out the bombs wires. I am still not over how that is the "safe" way to stop a bomb, just pull out the wires.
Right as the robot is about to step on War Witch, Statesman comes to save the team. You know your team sucks when Statesman, the strongest guy in the city, has to save your butts. And was that robot mad of wood? Look at how it broke. Metal does not work like that. At first, Statesman seems ok with the team, trying not to belittle them, but his expression soon changes to be serious when he talk about who was behind this attack. It was the Fifth Column.
In the game, Fifth Column were neo-nazi's. Yeah, that did not go over so well for a time and in game their name and story was changed to still be evil, but not be the 1940's WW-II nazi.
Statesman gives us the villains past and talking about how they are seriously bad news. He says he thought the heroes back in the 40's, himself included, beat them all but it looks like someone brought them back. Of course, they had to pick now while the city was at its weakest from another huge scale attack, and while many of the heroes are still on their way to the city. Statesman hopes that the group of Fifth Column they just fought was a small good just cashing in on the name.
Yeah, wishful thinking there States.
And that is the end of the comic. How was it? Well I enjoy it. The art has a nice cartoon feel to them and the character porprotions are not really that bad. The story is pretty good for a set up for the game and the characters aren't just carbon copies of each other. While it's true you do not learn that much about our heroes, you still get a feel for them and that is really what you should strive for when writing anything. Really, my biggest issue with this issue is that the pages never seemed to be sized big enough, case in point when you can still see the black size lines on your page. That is just bad comic making to leave those on.
At least that is how I feel about it.
All images (c) NCSoft (I think)
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