Event Leviathan #1 – Worry Not, Nothing to Spoil Here
Issue one of DC Comics’s summer event, “Event Leviathan”, arrived through the creative team of writer, Brian Michaael Bendis and artist, Alex Maleev, on June 12.
Putting aside the irony of naming an event ‘event …’, this first issue shows the makings of a fantastically, chilling summer series.
Most often in a review there is a spot in bold that reads SPOILERS AHEAD. No such warning needed here. Honestly, not a lot happens in this first issue.
Before the reader even opens the issue, Bendis makes it clear the story he is about to tell. On the cover, off to the side reads, ‘The Greatest Detectives Hunt Our Greatest Threat’. The inside contains beautiful explosions courtesy of Maleev. Yet in regards to story it serves as the first step in the build up to a mystery afoot in the DC Universe.
The issue opens up with Batman silently walking around a building that has been demolished from the inside out. He is greeted by a familiar face, Lois Lane. She is also trying to put together the pieces of what happened and more importantly who did it.
The issue ends with a full page spread of a cloaked figure with a mechanical mask. This character may or may not be Leviathan.
It’s made known by page two through narration this character Leviathan is attacking world governmental agencies. Leviathan is taking them down and then setting his or her sights on superheroes around the world. The reason for all this is yet to be determined. The DC Community must figure out who this character is and stop them before it is too late.
Bendis made his debut at DC with Action Comics #1000. Hardly a year later he is in charge of DC’s summer event. Bendis did not come to DC alone though. Maleev is a frequent and long time collaborator with Bendis. The artistic duo’s first collaboration was on the Image book “Sam and Twitch” in 2000. The following year they began taking the reins on Marvel’s Daredevil, which went onto become an award winning series.
DC has made the right decision putting the fate of their summer event with Bendis and Maleev. Maleev’s style sets the ideal eerie tone for a superhero mystery. While Bendis’s writing guides the reader through uncharted waters.The two complement each other in a way that will allow for a thriller of a mystery to unfold over the next six issues.
The key to a great mystery is not in who did it, rather the way the clues have been laid out for the reader. The first issue takes characters readers know and drops them in an environment unlike any other. It sets into motion a true ‘Guess Who’ situation. Maybe not a lot happened in issue one, but with Bendis at the helm it’s surely all leading to something spectacular.
Look for the rest of the “Event Leviathan” issues at your local comic book store or on DC Universe. Do you have any ideas of who Leviathan is? What did you think of the first issue?