DC's One-Star Squadron #1 preview goes for the superhero satirical jugular
Power Girl and Red Torando have to make ends meet in the new comedic series that doesn't pull punches
It looks like Power Girl's triumphant return as a member of Infinite Incorporated (Infinity Inc. rebranded) doesn't pay the bills.
The Earth-2 kinda-sorta-Supergirl is now arguably the most prominent cast member of One-Star Squadron, a satirically comedic new December 7-debuting six-issue limited series starring a team DC describes as promising "Superman-level service at bizarro prices!"
Written by Mark Russell (Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles) the Harvey, Ringo, and illustrated by Eisner Award nominee, and Eisner and Ringo Award winner Steve Lieber (Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen), the series follows a "rag-tag" (ouch, Kara!) group of superheroes led by Red Tornado (double ouch, Kara) who are heroes-for-hire-for-pretty much anything. Be it the latest DC alien invasion or a kid's birthday party, the team's services can be retained via their on-demand hero app, and according to DC, no job is too big or too small.
DC has not revealed if they took an ad out on Craigslist.
In a series where "heroism meets capitalism," the new team of working stiffs includes other superheroes like Gangbuster and Minute Man (and Plastic Man too?) who try to figure out who is behind the new venture and why.
A new six-page preview of the debut issue gives a good sense of the sensibilities of this series.
If One-Star Squadron somehow avoids Blue Beetle and Booster Gold stopping by, we'll be shocked.
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DC describes the series as packed with "heart, heroism, and humor" and should be relatable to anyone who's ever worked an "embarrassing, mind-numbing, or menial job," which the publisher assumes is everyone.
One-Star Squadron #1 features a cover by Lieber and a variant cover by Steve Pugh.
It doesn't look like One-Star Squadron will ever be considered for Newsarama's list of the best superhero teams of all time, but that seems to be the whole point.
I'm not just the Newsarama founder and editor-in-chief, I'm also a reader. And that reference is just a little bit older than the beginning of my Newsarama journey. I founded what would become the comic book news site in 1996, and except for a brief sojourn at Marvel Comics as its marketing and communications manager in 2003, I've been writing about new comic book titles, creative changes, and occasionally offering my perspective on important industry events and developments for the 25 years since. Despite many changes to Newsarama, my passion for the medium of comic books and the characters makes the last quarter-century (it's crazy to see that in writing) time spent doing what I love most.