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Description
"Reframing iconic moments of DC history and charting a previously unexplored sociopolitical thread as seen through the prism of DC Super Heroes who come from historically disenfranchised groups, John Ridley goes where no other has gone before! This unique new series presents its story as prose by Ridley married with beautifully realized color illustrations from a selection of exciting illustrators and comics artists. Extensively researched and masterfully executed, The other history of the DC universe promises to be an experience unlike any other. You may think you know the history of the DC Universe...but the truth is far more complex. The other history of the DC universe isn't about saving the world--it's about having the strength to simply be who you are."--… (more)
User reviews
First, this is a graphic novel that is told entirely in typeset text: no word balloons or sound effects, just long,
It doesn't help that Ridley has a warts-and-all, downbeat take on most of his narrators. Black Lightning gets ripped up the most, coming off as an angry, arrogant asshole. Mal Duncan comes off little better, but at least has Bumblebee there to offset his dreary and perhaps delusional voice. The chapters with Katana and Renee Montoya are super depressing. Anissa "Thunder" Pierce does some heavy lifting in her chapter to save the book, but it is too little too late by then.
The art is equally dull, by the way, as it's an illustrated book, not sequential storytelling. Each page has one image or three to four panels of art trying to stay out of the way of the text. It's all character studies or isolated representational moments or direct homages. An Italian artist roughly mimics the DC house style for the decades from the 1960 to 2010s, and I'm sorry, but you're in trouble when you are most comfortable aping Jim Aparo.
Yet another DC Black Label disappointment. They really need to reassess this imprint.