Vibe #1
DC Comics, $2.99, color, 32 pages
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artists: Andrew Kreisberg, Pete Woods, Wean Parsons
Amazingly, it does not suck.
The new Vibe is kinda interesting. He's an earnest young man who is a double victim of Darkseid's invasion: 1) His older brother, who had won a college football scholarship, was killed saving him from a Parademon. 2) Exposure to the event field of the Boom Tube shifted him slightly out of phase with our dimension. All of this happens in the first few pages, so I hope I'm not spoiling anything.
Now, years later, an agent of Amanda Waller's A.R.G.U.S. (an agent with a very familiar name to old JLA fans) shows up offering to give him revenge on the Parademon, and recruit him as a human geiger counter for other interdimensional visitors -- and as a member of the new Justice League of America.
That's just the surface story, and there's lots more surprises -- about the inner workings of A.R.G.U.S., about the young man's powers, and a really dirty, dangerous secret about Darkseid.
Thankfully, this new Vibe could not be more different than the old Vibe, who is justifiably thought of as a joke. This new Vibe does not talk with a bad Puerto Rican accent. He is not a break dancer. He does not wear sunglasses. His outfit isn't so gaudy that other people need sunglasses.
And that is all such a relief. As I said: "Amazingly, it does not suck." Which ought to be the subtitle of this book, like "World's Greatest Magazine!" used to be on Fantastic Four.
I don't know if I'm going to follow Vibe: Amazingly It Does Not Suck. But amazingly, I would not be ashamed to do so.
Replies
I know I am probably I am in a minority of one here, but I always liked the original Vibe. I think it stems from JLA Detroit being the first incarnation of the team I was able to follow regularly, so I have always had a fondness for those members. I was 11 then, so golden age of blah blah blah and all that. I was probably the only one who mourned the death of the version of Steel.
Anyway, back to this comic. I will take a "wait and see" approach as to whether or not I want to go ahead and pick it up in trade later on down the line. Saying it doesn't suck isn't really high praise, would you actually recommend it?