Broken Frontier

Wildstorm’s most powerful hero gets an ongoing monthly title with a visually stunning debut issue.

Following one of the most underrated mini-series of 2004, Majestic is back with another attempt at an ongoing monthly title. The 2004 mini-series focused on giving Majestic a much-needed human side, and during a time-storm occurrence had the hero trapped in the DC universe encountering Superman and Eradicator. Now through their help, Majestic finds his way back to his own Wildstorm Universe. With a character whose powers rival Superman’s, it’s only natural that his dilemmas equal the same epic proportions. When Majestic returns to his planet, a world that is a near replica of Earth, he finds it completely vacant, with all plant life, human life and animal life missing. Before the three superheroes have time to ask questions, they are attacked by a group of alien robots called the Vedette. This sounds like a classic superhero plot because that is exactly what it is, in all of its over-the-top glory.

The debut issue of Majestic is like a giant gluttonous ice cream sundae with crumpled up candy bars, cookie dough and all the fixings made just for superhero fans. It may not be fine French cuisine, but man does it look and taste amazing. I’ve felt for years that Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning have been providing some of the best superhero work in the business on The Legion. This series is vintage DnA, instantly throwing Majestic into action while putting him into a crisis in the widest possible scale one can imagine. This first issue is pure and simple superhero fluff executed to perfection, and wonderfully captures the fantastic essence of a great superhero comic.

The real reason to buy Majestic, though, is to see a true rising talent in the industry with Neil Googe. Each page is an absolute joy to look at, whether it’s a quiet landscape or some of the best action panels I’ve seen in a long time; there is no doubt Googe is a future star in the industry. However, as dynamic as the pencils are, perhaps the main reason this comic looks so incredible is the inking of Trevor Scott and the phenomenal coloring by Carrie Strachan for Wildstorm FX. The inks are sleek and the colors are bright and vivid, practically leaping off the page.

Majestic is a pure superhero comic at its very best, and for those that feel they have moved on or have become too jaded to the genre this is not a comic for you. I know there are people that groan when they see a book like Majestic, feeling another superhero title is the last thing the industry needs, but I disagree. This is the type of comic that made me a fan of the medium as a little kid, and although all my favorite comics now are not of the superhero genre, it’s still that same little kid in me now that lets me appreciate a fun superhero book when it’s done right.

-Glen Siegal