Broken Frontier

The Spectre begins his assault upon the magic community and it’s up to the Ragman and the Enchantress to stop him.

This is the second major series to spin directly out of the events of Countdown, and it sets up the intriguing premise of the Spectre declaring war on the magic community in the DCU. There are plenty of familiar faces appearing here (cameos mostly), and the list is quite impressive for the most part. Among this list you will find the Ragman, Enchantress, Blue Devil, Deadman, I Vampire, and a few other surprise guests popping up along the way. Everyone mentioned above all gather together to cope with the crisis at hand, and this isn’t any laughing matter whenever the Spectre is at the heart of it.

Much of this story revolves around the Ragman and Enchantress as they meet during some unforeseen circumstances. The Enchantress is seen fleeing from the wrath of the Spectre while he is attacking Blackbriar Thorn. The Enchantress is his next targeted victim, but luckily the Ragman intervenes and helps her flee the melee ensuing in the sky above. After exchanging pleasantries and brief explanations, the two head to the Oblivion Bar where all the magic types hang out. Once they arrive they start petitioning others to help aid them in their quest to put an end to the Spectre’s demonic wrath, only it falls on deaf ears. Everyone seems disinterested, but there is one surprise guest who shows up to give the support the Ragman and Enchantress so desperately need. I’m not going to spoil the surprise, but this support comes from the most unlikely source in the DCU, and it promises to make for an interesting second issue.

The credit here should go to writer Bill Willingham, whose satirical work on Vertigo’s Fables series extends here on this story. I’m not saying I found this issue satirical in any way, but I did find some of the situations and characters turning up to be a bit on the bizarre side. It’s really a good thing, since many of these characters are all the lesser known magical types, and now they are cobbled together to challenge the Spectre. It’s really a case of David versus Goliath, and I can’t think of a better writer to handle that analogy than Bill Willingham. He successfully managed to update fairy tale characters with some flair in Fables, and I am sure he will do the same here. I also can’t think of a better artist than Justiniano to handle the bigger than life struggles perplexing the magical heroes in this series. I found his art playful and quirky enough to suit the offbeat story being offered in the first issue. Justiniano is also good at giving lesser known characters more depth, and a good case in point here was the Beast Boy series he did a few years ago. I really loved how he brought Gar Logan to life and I think he will do the same with the Ragman. So far he gets thumbs up in my book.

I think it’s fair to say this series is starting off on the right foot, despite being a little offbeat. The approach here is simple, and I think the idea of using lesser known characters in a life or death situation is amusing enough for me. If you’re a fan of Fables then I suggest giving this a shot. You won’t be disappointed.

-Kenneth Gallant