It’s no secret that I’ve been a huge fan of past collaborations between Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. I recently re-read Superman: Secret Origin from 2009, and it’s still a fantastic re-telling of the Man of Steel’s origin. Their work on Batman: Earth One managed to give us a pretty different take on the Dark Knight. Doomsday Clock managed to brilliantly weave the characters from DC Comics and the Watchmen universe together in a fascinating read.
Now Johns and Frank (along with colorist Brad Anderson) are venturing off with a creator-owned story at Image Comics with Geiger.
There is always something intriguing about reading a new story set in a brand new comic universe. There’s a deep sense of the unknown as well as the fact that “anything goes.” Years (or decades) of established history and rules haven’t been set up yet. Having read what Johns and Frank have done in previously, it’s easy to have the anticipating grow larger and larger.
The comic opens up with a couple of guys in protective suits out in the desert. It’s not clear what happened or why they’re dressed like this. The first few panels immediately start filling us in on details that will be touched on later as well as mentioning “the one who walks outside without a suit.” The man also has been given other names. One of the suit-clad guys tells the story to the other. This is the story of Tariq Geiger. “Everything he did, good and bad, was for his family.”
It’s also established that this story takes place in the near future. You can see in the preview images above, the calendar on the wall shows the year 2030. Something explosive is about to happen and Tariq is about to get caught in the middle of things.
After this intro portion, the story then jumps a little further to establish where the main focus of the story will take place in regards to that incident. We do get to the see the “Glowing Man” and what he’s been up to since.
Being a first issue, we are treated to tiny pieces of the overall story. Seeing what the state of the world is and being introduced to some of the players, we really only have a glimpse of what’s to come. That’s where this story gets exciting. In the past works by Johns and Frank, there has always been a general knowledge of what the state of the world was. Stories set in an established universe (even in the”Earth One” universe) have a general feeling of what everything will be like. Once we get towards the end of this first issue, we begin to see there is a lot to this world we do not know.
As if the story wasn’t enough to draw you in, the art by Frank and colors by Brad Anderson should definitely grab your attention. Because we’ve seen this team work together on so many other amazing comics, we already know the quality we’re going to get. It’s almost become a treat when we get to see Frank and Anderson’s visual. You will want to eagerly gobble up each coming issue.
Geoff Johns, Gary Frank, and Brad Anderson have set a pretty high bar with all the books they’ve previously worked on. Geiger #1 easily rises up to meet and exceed those expectations. There is always wonderful and freeing sense of reading a book set in a brand new comic universe. The sense of the unknown amps up the excitement. As an introductory issue, the story and characters are set up. There is enough of a taste to make readers want to come back for more. Geiger will definitely explode its way onto your pull list.
What the Heck is going on?!? 