i did not hate one-star squadron #1 (review)

Ethics and brevity:

I have no affiliation with dc or dc comics but powergirl is my favorite kryptonian 

Copyright:

One-star squadron is property of dc comics and warner brothers all rights reserved 

Background:

One-star squadron is one of many dc’s recent mini-series in this experimental phase of them doing nothing but mini-series. Some of them are really good so far.  Also, this is going to be politically charged due to the nature of the context of the story, 

Story:

Our comic starts off with a three-page commercial for an organization called “Heroz4u”. Said organization is a superhero service for cheap. Parodying services like “Grubhub” and “Priceline”. While re-introducing us to b and c string superheroes like “Powergirl” and the “Red Tornado” putting them in a modern, ish light. Giving them a contextual look into them. 

After the advertisement ends, we cut to an old man who's staring blankly at the screen mumbling a catchphrase. Which is a big mood, who is being taken care of by a male nurses. Said nurses seem to be put off by him just mumbling a catchphrase and send him to the “Heroz4u” building. 

It cuts to the “Red Tornado” talking to an older hero called “The Minute Man”, Minute Man is an old WW2 hero from Fawcett comic being brought into the modern age. Minute Man is arguing with Red Tornado about the gigs he's getting, Minute wants bigger and better jobs demanding he works security for the visits from the royal family; but Tornado turns him down, stating to use the app and do small heroics. Minute declines and asks Tornado the most philosophical thing you can ask a superhero. 

Said question sends Tornado into a flashback of when Tornado was in his prime, meeting superman and helping to defeat the royal flush gang. He snapped back to reality and detailed his life to Minute, detailing how beating the royal flush gang Getting the key to the city and falling in love.  And how it came crashing down fast which is why he's working at “Heroz4u”. We are however saved from depression as our Kryptonian waifu Powergirl 

Powergirl appears to be the CEO, a call back to when she owned Starlabs in the “New52” era of D.C Comics; and Tornado seems to be supervisor of the heroes under her. Powergirl brings Tornado outside to meet our mumbling hospital gowned man from earlier asking him to take care of him and find out who he is. While she has to go to a meeting. After asking some probing questions we go nowhere fast. As our mystery man has no memory of anything. No name, known relatives or even insurance. 

Tornado brings our man of mystery home.so he can give him some clothes and find out who he is.  We learn that the mystery man is this era’s version of the bronze age superman side character, the former boxer turned former street hero called “Gangbuster’. He finds this on Wikipedia and not a superhero database. Which is weird. While Tornado is doing this Gangbuster is having a tense ptsd breakdown seeing pictures of defeated villains Tornado had defeated causes him to break down and punches the wall. 

Tornado’s wife calls him in and demands that he sees Gangbuster out. It cuts back to Powergirl watching over the other heroes in the business who are selling additional services to other people. The hero called “Heckler” makes a really big sale. Which catches Powergirl’s eye. Heckler asks the million-dollar question. If Powergirl has all of these Kryptonian powers, why even work for this company, why not just be part of the justice league. To which she snaps back about how she read a book that changed her life. Maxwell Lord’s self-help book. 

We get a small breakdown of Powergirl’s past fighting against Lex Luthor in battle and how she realized the best way to beat evil millionaires is to be a millionaire. And sadly, this is where I get political. This version of Powergirl is a parody of the capitalist mindset. That the only way to beat evil money holders is to be an evil money holder. To do anything to get the bag as it's called now. Their mindset is very much “You live in society. Curious”

We don't get much time to mull that over as it cuts to Tornado taking Gangbuster to his former home to see if anyone who's there could help take care of him. only to be told by the person there they just bought the place and doesn't know who Gangbuster is. As the tornado leaves, we learn that it was a lie, and they just refuse to take care of him. Tornado takes his pal to a safehouse and tells him to try and get some sleep. 

It cuts to a board meeting with the Heroz4u shareholders voting to do a check on Tornado’s programming because he is leaving early to help out Gangbuster to find out who he is. And we get a shocking heel turn in the entirety of superheroes. Powergirl agrees with the board and says she will take care of it

Good:

. The writing and pacing are very well done.  The mystery of gangbuster while short reminds me of rambo in a way. The story of an old hero being treated like garbage by the healthcare industry. 

. The art is really beautiful, conveying the themes in a mature way

. the modern resurrection of older superheroes as older veteran heroes was a beautiful touch that was refreshing to see 

. every character was shown some form of respect even if they were jobbers, I.e Minute Man wasnt just a bumbling old man but a veteran who wants to do more for society when he could retire. 

Bad:

. Red Tornado bringing gangbuster home to learn his name and not the justice league even like a supercomputer in the Heroz4u hq not having a supercomputer seems weird; like i get its for dramatic tension it just seems weird to do that in the hero world.  

. Powergirl looking like Hillary Clinton at the end is a slight negative on the ending

. Him finding it on a Wikipedia article and not a hero database which is weirder. 

. Powergirls apparent betrayal of the red tornado. No matter how big of a business capitalist girl she is; she would never betray her friends or teammates

Overall:

It's a really solid start of the mini-series and feels like a backdoor series to bring back the Justice Society and i hope they do. i honestly started reading this as a hate read seeing Powergirl on the cover cheering for the money, and i expected them to change giant portions of her character in a bad way and was pleasantly surprised.