C.O.W.L., from writers Kyle Higgins and Alec Siegel and artist Rod Reis, is arguably one of the most underrated comics on the stands.
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Higgins himself said during a recent interview that he almost didn’t pitch it to publisher Image Comics because he didn’t know how a superhero comic would fit into their current lineup. Luckily for all involved, Higgins happened to ahve finished art pages on him when he was meeting with publisher Eric Stephenson about something else entirely, and Stephenson told him on the spot that he’d take C.O.W.L.
That anecdote is reflective of both how solid C.O.W.L. is at its core and how difficult it is to sometimes get a bead on its audience. A lot of fans who are burned out on overly-serious superhero work might be turned off by the use of words like “thoughtful,” “challenging” and “politically-savvy” in reviews, whereas the kind of folks looking for those words might balk at guys in capes who run around dropping buildings on one another.
The book, therefore, has sold well, with issues selling out and great word-of-mouth among the readers, but it hasn’t become the monster hit that some other recent Image titles have — and that the comic arguably deserves.
C.O.W.L. is set in ’60s Chicago and revolves around a group of superheroes who unionized in the ’40s and have become part of the elephantine and sometimes corrupt political institutions of that time and place. The setting allows artist Rod Reis a lot of opportunities to shine. His work is beautiful, and blending the majestic, over-the-top imagery of the superhero world with the architectural, automotive and pop-cultural wonderland of the ’60s gives him plenty to work with.
Longtime readers will remember that whenever we looked at Higgins’s Nightwing run, we found it to be one of Gotham’s best New 52 titles. He and Siegel also have a proven track record together, both at Marvel and, more importantly for this conversation, on a short film titled The League.
The League centered around C.O.W.L. — the Chicago Organized Workers League — as well, and serves as an inspiration for the comic. The short was well-received and is available online at Amazon Instant Video and iTunes. It isn’t required reading to understand the comic, which is not a follow-up to the film so much as an interpretation of the movie’s world, but it’s recommended viewing just because it’s good.
The series builds a deep mythology that’s inspired by superhero comics, pulp fiction and adventure films but not beholden to any of them. It feels, in that way, a bit like Monkeybrain’s Edison Rex, albeit more grounded in a world that feels “real” and less fantastical in terms of the use of powers.
Like so many other great comics that are built in a world much like ours but with one or two major tweaks, what really drives the narrative in this book is the characters, their elaborate, interconnected histories and the mysteries that the writers are seeding into the series — both overt and implied. The world of C.O.W.L. becomes one of Reis’s beautifully-watercolored backdrops as readers are immersed in the politics both micro and macro.
Reviewing the book in much more depth would run the risk of spoiling some of the mysteries contained within, and would also be pointless. There are very few, very minor flaws in an incredibly well-executed book and that lends itself more to gushing than to thoughtful analysis. Having done that for a while, here’s your chance to check out this title if you still haven’t:
To celebrate Labor Day, the American holiday dedicated to acknowledging the contributions of the labor movement, we’re giving away four digital copies of C.O.W.L. #1 and a fifth winner will get copies of all four issues of the series published to date. Just tweet at us with the hashtag #GreyRaven or e-mail russburlingame[at]comicbook.com to be entered into a drawing. The drawing will be totally random and done at midnight PST. Winners will be contacted tomorrow to provide us with their Image Comics or comiXology e-mail addresses (whichever you choose) so that prizes can be disbursed.
