Secret Empire #0 & The Watchmen Button in Batman #21. Today, two HUGE events hit both Marvel & DC Comics. For Marvel, Secret Empire #0 hits the shelves running with the big story that Captain America has always been apart of Hydra and begins his reign for dominance over the entire Earth with his own Secret Empire of SHIELD who are really Hydra. It will be up to the might of the Marvel heroes to stop him and somehow restore the old Captain America, if they can. Now over at DC Comics, the Comedian’s button (aka The Watchmen button) previously showed up in Batman Rebirth and comes again to the forefront in this weeks Batman #21. It’s supposed to spark many of the new upcoming events from DC Comics – Batman Dark Days & Dark Knight Metal and also include Batman & The Flash as main focal character points. Given the entire 52 DC Comic Universe was because of him reverting Flashpoint, that kinda makes sense.

Please note: Now I haven’t had a chance to read either of these books yet so these are all my rambles before hand.

Secret Empire #0

I don’t know what to expect and that excites the HELL outta me. Now. That said, Marvel Event books OFTEN start with a home run, a big hit, a WOW factor which sadly and often, the rest of the series FAILS to deliver upon (see ANY of their event books of the last 10 yrs or more). I have mentioned before that Civil War II issue #1 might be Brian Bendis best work ever for a single issue of a comic book. I’m NOT expecting the same as this is the issue #0 – the prequel to the big issue #1, the night before the big storm but given how well Nick Spencer has been writing both Captain America Steve Rogers and Captain America Samuel Wilson, to think that he would drop the ball on this series is silly. That said, I am still very hesitant as I WANT Marvel to hit the home run with this event book given it’s great Captain America Hydra lead-in. Given that Marvel “says” that after Secret Empire they will hold off on event books for over a year (yeah right).

Speaking of cover art. Secret Empire #0 does a solid piece of Captain America Hydra which is poster worthy. I also love the logo / word mark style for the event series. Classic type and the border. Marvel often does very nice designs for their event books, I give them that.

Batman #21

Batman recently has been more miss than hit for me. Tom King hasn’t had a pulse on Batman since the start of his run and seems better at writing ANYONE else in his run than Batman and it’s odd. I’ve been half tuned out on his run so I hope “the button” story line helps Tim King focus on Batman making his more of a focal point and given more time to help build that character development that Tim King has done in the past with the likes of Omega Men and The Sheriff of Babylon.

Also the gimmicky metallic-like covers switching from Batman #21 & The Flash does NOTHING for me. I’m NOT buying it for ANY reason. I know they need that kinda crap for the collectors but BLAH – gimmick covers leave a bad taste in my mouth and often make me think poorly about the actual content even before buying it.

Last Thoughts…

I don’t know how either of these books are going to work out. I do hope for the best because I want to see and read good comics. That said, Marvel has a let down factor for all their event books and DC Comics rehashing the whole Watchmen brand bothers the shit outta me. Leave the Watchmen also and let the new 52 DC Universe & Rebirth STAND ON IT”S OWN FREAKING FEET! You don’t need to rebrand Rebirth with The Watchmen unless it’s all a marketing and branding exercise then be careful because the fandom ain’t stupid. You try to milk something for took long, you’ll find the audience quick to turn away!