Dingbats and Green Team and Creepers! Oh, my! Your Major Spoilers review of Danger Street #2 from DC Comics awaits!
DANGER STREET #2
Writer: Tom King
Artist: Jorge Fornes
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Editor: Brittany Holzherr
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: January 10, 2023
Previously in Danger Street: After their attempt to join the Justice League goes horrendously wrong, Warlord and Starman are on the run from the law and the forces of the Fourth World! In their wake, they have left behind both a murder and the ongoing mystery of Atlas the Great and his connection to the cosmic powers of the DC Universe. But don’t fret, Lady Cop is on the case, and she won’t rest until it’s solved. But little does she know, a malevolent corporation has a connection to it all and they’re willing to kill to keep their secrets safe. After all, nobody messes with the Green Team!
A SOLEMN VOW IN A PLACE OF MOURNING
As we open Chapter Two, the remaining Dingbats gather to bury their friend Good Looks, with only Lady Cop Liza Warner joining in their mourning. The ones who killed him, Starman and The Warlord, check into a sleazy hotel, trying to come to terms with their JLA audition having gone so very wrong. Both groups come to important conclusions: Starman realizes that they could try to use the Helmet of Fate to resurrect the boy, Warlord realizes that his partner is out of his mind, and the Dingbats decide that they’re going to find and kill the person or persons who ended their friend’s life. We also get our first look at the mysterious Green Team, the coterie of boy millionaires who are not only bankrolling Jack Ryders show, Murdoch-style, and Manhunter Mark Shaw, who seems to be targeting their interests. Most terrifying of all, though, is our visit to Apokalips, where the most shocking scene in recent memory comes to pass, when Darkseid and Highfather meet face to face…
And Darkseid HUGS.
IMPRESSIVE CONTINUITY STITCHING
With the narrative having been established last issue, we leap right into the story that the Helm of Nabu is telling us, which makes me realize that this whole story is taking place in flashback, which also makes me wonder about the wheres and the hows of that narration. That adds wrinkles I hadn’t considered to the saga of Atlas, the goals of the War/Star team, and especially the Tucker-Carlson-influences antics of Jack Ryder. There’s a stiffness to the art in this issue that bothers me. It feels like it’s trying to emulate the aesthetic of a Bendis/Gaydos comic from twenty years ago, but Fornes doesn’t quite capture it. HIs work is better in its fluid moments, like the discussion between Jack Ryder and Commodore Murphy with its shocking ending for Nat the Gnat. The story does manage to create a cohesive style that makes all these characters work, but it also shaves off some of the rougher edges in favor of blood, violence, and sense of doom so palpable it even depresses Darkseid.
BOTTOM LINE: STILL BLEAK AND A LITTLE BIT STIFF
I don’t know how or why the idea to bring back and tie together all the features of a thirteen-issue anthology from 1975 came to be, but Danger Street #2 succeeds in showing the depth of that premise, while also reminding readers that, if the series is going to go someplace interesting, the oppressive sense of impending catastrophe has to let up eventually, earning a better-than-average 3 out of 5 stars overall. The art helps to make up for a lot of storyline sins, but it’s the robust narration of Doctor Fate’s headgear that elevates this past the grinding awfulness of Heroes In Crisis.
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DANGER STREET #2
There are parts of this story that are incredibly compelling, and others eye-rollingly goofy, but the overall presentation is good, even with the overwhelmingly broody tone.
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Writing5
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Art7
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Coloring7
