DC K.O. is the most popular DC event in a while, and it’s paying off well for the company. The King Omega Tournament has given readers some awesome fights and has used these battles to tell stories about each of the characters in the books. It’s been quite a ride for readers, one made better because it feels like the writers working on the book and its tie-ins are actually enjoying what they’re doing. This isn’t a Marvel event that forces creators to pause their stories; it’s one where everyone seems to want to be there, and the stories have been much better because of this. DC K.O.: The Kids Are All Fight Special #1 isn’t some groundbreaking tie-in issue that blows the story wide open. It’s a fun little story starring some underused characters, and it knows that.
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DC K.O. has been killing it, taking the simple idea of a tournament arc and using it in the smartest way possible. The tournament isn’t the story; the story is how the tournament affects the fighters. DC K.O.: The Kids Are All Fight Special #1 keeps this up, with writer Jeremy Adams kicking the issue off with Jon Kent wanting to join in the fight somehow, feeling overlooked. Much like DC K.O. and December’s Fight Month, this issue is all about what this tournament means for Jon. Meanwhile, Fairplay, Quiz Kid, the Boom, and Cheshire are all going through the same thing and find something for themselves, some way for them to help. Those are the inciting incidents for this story, and they fit.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
| Pros | Cons |
| Good emotional hooks | Cliche plot |
| The art is great throughout | The pacing is a little off |
| Focuses on characters that don’t often get a lot of focus |
DC KO: The Kids Are All Fight Proves Cliché Can Work
This book is a cliché, in a lot of ways: young heroes start trouble for the hero who’s supposed to watch them, find an important thing that no one else noticed, and they eventually all come together to fight this new threat. However, what makes it so cool is that Adams gives the story the right emotional hooks. Jon’s need to do something, Boom’s exuberance for heroism, Fair Play’s fear, Cheshire’s love for causing trouble, and Quiz Kid’s desire to protect Fair Play all inform this story and make it more than just a big fight. All of this buoys the issue along its boiler-plate structure, and makes it worth reading. This issue isn’t perfect, and I would have liked the pacing to be a little better (there are a few scenes that feel a little too long), but I had a smile on my face the whole time.
DC K.O. The Kids Are All Fight Special #1’s Art Really Helps the Story Pop
Modern DC is killing it on the talent front, and has an amazing roster of artists who do gorgeous fill-in work on the main books and get to do minis and event tie-ins. Travis Mercer has been one of these for a while, a dependable artist with a great style that makes any comic he draws look great. He’s the kind of artist who is just waiting for that breakout book, and his work on DC K.O.: The Kids Are All Fight Special #1 is yet another example of something else that DC has been doing way better than Marvel lately: putting the right creative teams on the books.
Mercer is able to take everything that Adams put into the script and make it look great. Adams’s emotional hooks wouldn’t work nearly as well without Mercer’s adroit character acting. The action scenes are cool and well laid-out, and Adams’s jokes land because Mercer is able to make them look great. Honestly, Mercer is the kind of artist who would have been a superstar on ’90s X-books back in the day, his cartoonish style mixing Western and anime/manga influences to create great imagery.
DC K.O.: The Kids Are All Fight Special #1 is yet another example of all of the ways that DC has mastered the event comic. This is, in a lot of ways, a standard superhero comic, and one that does everything that you want it to. It’s a fun story with successful emotional hooks, a cool threat that ties into one of the characters’ pasts, some exciting action, and an ending that ties it all up. It’s a cliche, yeah, but sometimes you need just a fun little tie-in story to remind us what some of our favorite lower-level heroes are doing. This one isn’t a must-read, but you won’t be disappointed that you bought it.
DC K.O.: The Kids Are All Fight Special #1 is on sale now.
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