I still haven't read volume 1 of this series, but since every few issues is a complete story about some character that doesn't have their own series, it doesn't really matter. Besides, I found this book for $1.18 at a used book store and couldn't pass it up. I've now started 42 out the 52 series that DC released as part of the first wave of the New 52.
This volume collects issues #9-12, 0 and parts of Teen Titans #11 & #12. Issues #9-11 were a story that focused on Vandal Savage and his daughter. Savage killed a bunch of people in ritual sacrifice when his daughter was 10 years old. He's been imprisoned ever since. The daughter is now a profiler for a government agency and she is called in when someone starts copycatting Savage's murders from years before. Reminiscent of the movie Silence of the Lambs, the profiler gets one serial killer to help her track down the other. This time the serial killer helping the government profiler just happens to be her dad. I was pleasantly surprised by the writing James Robinson provides for this story. I just read one of his books not long ago that I wasn't very pleased with.
The art for the Vandal Savage issues was drawn by Bernard Chang. I was shocked when I flipped this book open and saw the first page. The art looks amazing. Considering some of the other New 52 books that I've read that had terrible art, I was expecting something REALLY atrocious since this series doesn't have big caliber characters that star in their own books. on the back cover, there is a quote from Comic Book Resources that says, "Bernard Chang's art is beautiful and clean, exactly what comic book art should be." I agree with that statement 100%, which is rare for me. Some of the New 52 books that I mentioned with the really bad art had someone claiming it looked great. I thought those critics must have read the book when they were really drunk and had to close one eye to keep from seeing triple. Here, the praise is well deserved. Why isn't this guy on a major book like one of the Batman titles?
The next story in the book is a Kid Flash's first solo adventure. This takes place in DC Universe Present #12 and the pieces of Teen Titans #11 & #12. The story is written by Fabian Nicieza and drawn by Jorge Jimenez. During one their adventures in the book Teen Titans, the Titans traveled to a place called Mystery Island. When they teleported back home, 3 teenaged, evolved dinosaur people hitched a ride unbeknown to the Teen Titans. Kid Flash as an adventure trying to get them back home. The best thing about the story is Kid Flash's dialogue. Fabian Nicieza had me laughing out loud a couple of times. Jimenez's art is almost on par with that of Chang's in the first story.
The last issue in the book, #0, is a super-sized issue that has origin stories for O.M.A.C., Mr. Terrific, Hawk and Dove, The Blackhawks, and Deadman. All of the above except Deadman had series that were part of DC's initially launched 52 titles in the New 52 and were cancelled before the #0 origin issues of their own series could be published. Deadman in in the book Justice League Dark, but that series' #0 focused on Constantine so this was their first chance to tell Deadman's origin.
The O.M.A.C. part of the issue is written by Dan Didio & Keith Giffen. The latter also serves as artist for the story. The story for this was okay, but nothing special. The same can be said for the art. The Mr. Terrific origin is written by James Robinson and illustrated by Tom Denerick. When I mentioned earlier that I had read one Robinson's book that I didn't really care for, The Mr. Terrific series had been it. This story is slightly better than most of that series was, but thankfully, it was short. The art is decent here too.
The Hawk and Dove story is written by Rob Liefeld and drawn by Marat Mychaels. Why in the hell does anyone let Liefeld write anything? This isn't that bad, actually, but c'mon man. It's still Liefeld. I have no idea who Mychaels is, but the art is great. Blackhawks has the team of writer Tony Bedard and artist Carlos Rodriguez. The story here is the worst of the book and not much better than the actual Blackhawks series which was really bad. The art is decent, but nothing close to best art in the book. The final story, The Deadman one, is also written by Bedard with art by Scott McDaniel. This is the worst art in the book, but the best story out of the origins. Why couldn't Bedard come up with something this good for the Blackhawks?
Overall, I give the writing and art score 4 stars each. That makes this a 4 star overall book. I wasn't expecting much from the book since it is several loose stories about people that had books that weren't a success and got canceled or aren't popular enough to support their own series and have to be part of team books. This actually turned out be a hidden gem amongst some of the garbage I've read in my attempt to devour every single issue published under the New 52 banner.