Mad About DC #1 – Chip Zdarsky, Marie Javins, Dacy Lim, Editors; Skottie Young, Tini Howard, Mattie Lubchansky, Mark Waid, Ty Templeton, Jim Zub, Ramon Perez, Dave Johnson, Kagan McLeod, Gerry Duggan, Tony Moore, Rainbow Rowell, Chip Zdarsky, Colleen Coover, Andrew Wheeler, Stephen Byrne, Kyle Starks, Cody Ziglar, Daniele Di Nicuolo, John Kalisz, Joe Kelly, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Valentine De Landro, Gail Simone, Colleen Doran, Graham Roumieu, Lee Gatlin, Joanne Starer, Joe Quinones, Joseph Starkey, Ben Errett, Jeff Parker, Lucas Ketner, Vita Ayala, Maria Laura Sanapo, Scott Snyder, James Harren, Frank Martin, Mariko Tamaki, Riley Rossmo, Inaki Azpiazu, Sergio Aragones, Ryan North, Erica Henderson, Seth Meyers, Shannon Wheeler, Scott Aukerman, Mitch Gerads, Al Ewing, PJ Holden, Leah Williams, Isaac Goodhart, Joshua Williamson, Javi Fernandez, Marcial Toledano Vargas, Mark Russell, Steve Lieber, Steve Buccellato, Matt Fraction, Tom Taylor, Bruno Redondo, Casey Gilly, J. Bone, Daniel Kibblesmith, Ro Stein & Ted Brandt, Charles Soule, Ryan Browne, Contributors
Ray – 9/10
Ray: One of the most unusual and ambitious projects to come out of DC in a while, this oversized issue combines two things that go great together – DC Comics and Mad Magazine, the historic funnybook that has been mostly in reprints for a few years now. But this one-shot is all original content, and even more impressively, brings in an absolute all-star collection of talent from inside and outside DC Comics to celebrate the legacy of the humor mag. Curated by notorious comic maniac Chip Zdarsky, who also writes and illustrates several stories, it contains over forty different tales by unique creative teams, ranging from multi-page serialized affairs to meta gags like a board game describing how to become Batman. This features all the original Mad features you’ve come to love, including an original silent comic page about comic shops by the legendary cartoonist Sergio Aragones.
There’s also a revival of the fan-favorite “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions”, featuring DC characters, a Spy vs. Spy tribute page featuring Guy Gardner and Sinestro, and even a classic Mad fold-out with a very pointed message that many fans will approve of. But the most surprising thing here is just how many stories are by a-list creative teams. Colleen Coover, one of the best indie cartoonists of all time, does a packed one-page Lana Lang story as she tries to start dating again but finds Superman’s legacy everywhere. Matt Fraction writes a bizarre, meta history of Batman. And most impressively, the creative teams of Taylor/Redondo and Snyder Harren both tell offbeat tales set in the Absolute Universe – with Snyder and Harren returning to one of the most meme-worthy moments in recent DC memory. It’s a big, crazy anthology of the best writers and artists in the industry just having fun with all the editorial guardrails off. More of this kind of special, please.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes
