Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *
Every tale of heroism has a beginning, every superhero a back story in which the reality of their true nature shines through and the grip on the reader’s imagination starts to take hold.
The one huge problem with graphic novels and comic books is how time outstrips the development of the character. One Fantastic Four reader wrote to Marvel in the 1970s and explained how one year in time in their Universe was worth three to four in the real world, by which logic the average reader has moved on and only leaving the dedicated to follow the story line on ad-infinitum.
Where D.C. Comics learned to get round this was by starting again, by having the Universe in which Batman, Superman, Arrow and Selina Kyle implode, by having Time turn back but become more relevant to the era that new readers were inhabiting and allowing for the whole crusade to start once more, hopefully with a dynamic fervour but more it seems as a prelude to the New 52 storylines that really did indeed make the most of every single asset that D.C. had under its utility belt.
There is no doubting the artistry and endeavour that went into Zero Year but somehow it just feels flat, unbalanced and too dependent upon the old guard of fandom giving way to a new breed who might, only might, stay along for the ride. Unlike the New 52, Zero Year is one in which liberties are taken and despite a convincing arc crossing over many of D.C.’s titles and suitable characters, it is hard to convince the brain that it was truly needed, that the dynamic intended was one in which all fans across the entire spectrum would have wanted to see happen.
If there is any improvement it perhaps lays in the way some of the female characters are now portrayed, especially in the outlook of Selina Kyle, Barbara Gordon and Black Canary who really dominate the pages in a way that Batman, Nightwing and the Flash could only aspire to. It is in this enhancement in their story, in the character in which they hold court with the reader, that makes Zero Year a graphic novel in which to play with, to fool around amongst. It is the graphic novel equivalent of a gap year romance with a beautiful Hispanic woman from New York a touching memory but to one you know you could never have married.
It is a shame to put such a momentous moment in D.C. history into such an average bracket but Zero Year is no hero, no villain, just the start of something else.
D.C. Comics Zero Year is available to purchase from Worlds Apart on Lime Street, Liverpool.
Ian D. Hall