Writer: Rick Remender
Art: Mat Broome
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
An apocalyptic future brought about by a hero’s arrogance. A hero coping with being made to kill his own sidekick. These heroes are trying to fight the good fight even after being beaten again and again.
Superhero comics even as ongoing series rarely consider consequences as that epic fight across the city is forgotten about next issue when the hero heads off for another adventure. The End League though tackles those consequences straight on from the very first page.
Rick Remender has created a series looking at what would happen in a world of heroes if truly cataclysmic things happened and it was largely the fault of the main cast. This is a world where human frailty has compounded weaknesses leading to arrogance and distrust, basically letting the bad guys win. He opens the book, and indeed centres the first issue, on the archetypal superhero. Astonishman is a caped superhero that has an analogy in most universes, be it Superman or Supreme, but unlike most of those Astonishman is deeply flawed. By focusing on him at the start, we not only get to see how different this premise is, we also get a lot of background covered well.
Remender has described the book as Lord of the Rings meets Watchmen. I must admit reading the first issue I thought there was a finite story, but exploring more this is an ongoing series and that makes it all the more interesting. The world The End League shows us is one of those apocalyptic futures that most superhero books explore via alternate futures that the heroes have to stop happening. Well for The End League that’s the here and now. They’ve been hunted and they are pretty much near rock bottom. Most of them starving and they will either fight or they die like most of their friends have before them. For all the familiar character types this is something pretty new to superheroes, it’s certainly been done in fantasy, but apart from what-ifs or possible futures this has not been touched on by superheroes.
Joining Rick in creating the book is Mat Broome. Broome may be best known to people as a former Wildstorm artist, who worked on Wildcats/X Men Dark Age with Warren Ellis. His artwork then does not hold a candle to the work on this issue. I’ve never been a big fan of his, but teamed up with Wendy Broome on colours really ups the quality of his art. Remender himself interviewed Mat Broome at Newsarama and just go look at some of the character designs. http://www.newsarama.com/general/Remender/04/endleague.html
Between them Remender and Broome manage to sell you on this cast of analogies. It is a pick and mix assortment of characters who have roots in various companies. Broome’s designs allow a dash of homage to their ancestry, but make them viable characters in their own rights. Then Remender goes to town on screwing up the character’s lives so they all come with their own baggage. That’ll be the Watchmen influence shining through. The notion that this has Lord of the Rings as one of its starting points does make you reread and wonder whether that character or that one will have more significance that you might first have thought of. And then you start counting how many people are on the team. Seven is a popular number with superheroes, but Nine works quite well for fantasy.
This first issue sets up the basics of the world beautifully. The history told from the perspective of Astonishman tantalises rather than tells you everything, leaving plenty of opportunity to return to it at a later point. I’m definitely intrigued as to where the book will go. No character seems safe and that makes it all the more interesting. They say it’s always darkest before the dawn. Well I’m not sure Rick Remender is going to let it get light all that quickly and a superhero book dealing with consequences and aftermath offers the chance to get a new perspective on old tropes. The End League hits next month and I would seriously recommend getting onboard at the start.
A preview of the book can be found at http://www.darkhorse.com/profile/preview.php?theid=14-500
Mark Peyton – has a MA in History and Research from the University of Hull specialising in the Hundred Years War. In a complete departure from that he now runs communications and membership for a UK based Trade Union as well as being a part time writer/journalist.
He is a founding member of Millarworld acting as a moderator and as an editor for Fractal Matter.