So You'd Like To Save The World

Very short post today: I'm hoping to catch the PACE panto in Paisley this afternoon.

Our libraries are wonderful resources. Now that I'm a resident in suburbia, I'm borrowing from the graphic novel section of Giffnock Library. This is an easy way to refresh your memory of old comics ( I have a Materioptikon post planned for the late 60s Fantastic Four) and to try series you may have missed or couldn't afford in the past.

One such series is 2008's The Order, a superhero team book by Matt Fraction and Barry Kitson, which was part of the Fifty State Initiative arising from  Civil War. The Next Right Thing reminded me of Waid's Teenage Revolution Legion and also of Todd Nauck's reality tv romp, Wildguard.

The premise sees a team of "real world" heroes based in Los Angeles. Like Morrison's JLA, they are modelled on the pantheon of the Greek gods but the Soma Process which empowers them only lasts for a year. The first five issues are written from the POV of different team members in the glare of multi-media platforms.

The first issue introduces Anthem: recovering alcoholic actor Henry played Tony Stark on tv in the MU. He's the flawed Superman of the Order and, in the first issue, has to fire four members of the team for violating morals clauses. Their replacements are Supernaut, Veda, Aralune and Mulholland Black.

Aralune aka Becky is like a dark version of DC's Stargirl, The "teenager of the year" is a shapeshifting beauty pageant winner whose sex tape threatens the team's credibility. A more traditional menace emerges in the form of the Soviet Super-Soldiers: hibernating agents from the early Silver Age of Marvel including the Gargoyle and Mongu.

Oh, those Russians

"Calamity" James is a boy genius Flash analogue who lost his legs in a drunk driver accident. The murder of decommisoned swordswoman Avona is investigated and a plague of hobo zombies erupts in the third issue.

Magdalena is literally the team's Earth Mother, Veda. She is a childless celebrity who creates golems(!) and her presence and morality reminds me of Wonder Woman.
Calamity tracks down the driver who cost him his legs and the zombie outbreak is revealed to be a test by a shadowy paramilitary unit.

The fifth issue focuses on cynical publicist Kate Kildare and the team's acquisition of an hq- a hotel in the Hollywood Hills. Former member Corona falls victim to the Black Dahlias, a team of enhanced "gangbangers". They have a connection to psychokinetic Mulholland (whose powers recall those Marvel's Hispanic Power Man.)

Slick and dryly humorous, The Order is a Mature Readers take on heroism under public scrutiny.
A modern West Coast Avengers and more entertaining than Fraction's Defenders, this is a bit of a hidden gem.

Coming soon: Yule never guess!

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