About.com Rating

Title:

Wednesday Comics

Characters/Comic Creators:

• Batman, by writer Brian Azzarello and artist Eduardo Risso
• Adam Strange, by writer/artist Paul Pope
• Metamorpho, by writer Neil Gaiman with Art by Michael Allred
• The Demon and Catwoman, written by Walter Simonson with Art by artist Brian Stelfreeze
• Deadman, written by Dave Bullock and Vinton Heuck, Art by Dave Bullock
• Kamandi, written by Dave Gibbons with Art by Ryan Sook
• Superman, written by John Arcudi with Art by Lee Bermejo
• Wonder Woman, written and illustrated by Ben Caldwell
• Green Lantern, written by Kurt Busiek with Art by Joe Quiñones
• Teen Titans, written by Eddie Berganza with Art by Sean Galloway
• Supergirl, written by Jimmy Palmiotti with Art by Amanda Conner
• Hawkman, written and illustrated by Kyle Baker
• Sgt.

Rock, written by Adam Kubert, ilustrated by artist Joe Kubert
• The Flash, written by Karl Kerschl Brenden Fletcher, illustrated by Karl Kerschl
• Metal Men, written by Dan DiDio with Art by Ian Churchill

Content:

Wednesday Comics is rated for all ages.

Publisher:

DC Comics

Introduction:

In a bid to get back to the roots of comic books, DC Comics has launched a 12 week series where each week 16 stories will unfold one giant 14” X 20” page at a time. This reminisces an era where comics were found in the newspaper and the story was told one in short chunks. Readers clamored each week to the “funnies” section to see their favorite stories come alive, such as Spider-Man, Superman, and Prince Valiant. This a bold experiment that has the comics world buzzing.

Story:

Each page of the oversized series tells an ongoing story, each jam packed with some of the biggest names in comics, such as Neil Gaiman, Brian Azzarello, Paul Pope, Adam and Joe Kubert, Kurt Busiek, Karl Kershl, Mike Allred, and more. It’s really a who’s who of the comic book industry.
The stories are contain not only some of the most popular characters, but is intermixed with some of the lesser known characters of the DC Universe.

Each one bursts off the page as they are all large sized, about the size most of the artists actually draw the pages themselves.

Review:

First off, kudos to DC for trying something new. They have really pushed some boundaries lately with series like 52 that challenged what could be done with comics, and now with this Wednesday Comics series. It is very cool to see a large publisher like DC commit to something new and out of the box (although it is funny that this is how comics were produced at the beginning, so it isn’t quite new as it is being made new again.)
The first thing you notice is the paper used for this project. The entire thing is made of newsprint. I would say the quality of the paper does appear to be a bit better than your standard newspaper, but then again I’m no newspaper quality expert. This all seems a bit off putting at first, that is until you open up the comic and see what is inside. The comic unfolds as it is folded into fourths and you see this giant spectacle before you. The size of it is impressive.

To read it without bending the paper too much more that it already was, I had to lay it down on the floor and hover over it, propped up with my arms. It really gave me the sensation that I was a kid again, reading the Sunday comics. The page in this size just gave a drool factor and it worked on me.

One of the cool things about Wednesday Comics is that there is bound to be something that you will enjoy. There are so many creators, multiple characters, and they are written and drawn from many different perspectives and I found myself falling in love with the Kamandi and Adam Strange storylines. Others didn’t resonate, with the Batman and Wonder Woman not hitting the mark with me. Hard to put my finger on why, Wonder Woman seemed to wordy and Batman seemed a little slow. The great thing is that they are still beautiful to look at.

Probably one of the problems I see is the pacing of the stories. Each story happens at a slow pace of one page a week. The first issue was a bit hard to get into as it was pretty much all setup pieces, the “hook” if you will. Reading all three at once was a good way to see some of the stories really start to unfold and take shape.

Another issue with this series from a collecting standpoint is how easy it can be damaged. Even purchasing a mint copy fresh off the stands will have folds and bends. It’s just a part of the process. It will be hard to truly put a grade on these as they just don’t match up well to current comics. You’ll need to look for things like tears, fading, and unnatural bending to affect value.

Conclusion:

The word that comes to mind for Wednesday Comics is “spectacle”. It is such a great thing to look at and read. The art truly pops and even though I’ve read reports of the color and art not looking great on the newsprint, I disagree. It might not be as bright as the glossy white paper most comics are printed on now, but I think it still looks fantastic. Wednesday Comics is truly an experience, but you will have to judge for yourself whether the $3.99 price tag is worth the spectacle for you. For me, I think it is.