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The New Age of DC Heroes #8
The Unexpected: Call of the Unknown
In the aftermath of Dark Nights: Metal, more than just our universe was left in danger. When the only hope for survival rests in the hands of four very different superheroes who can't stand each other, the result is... The Unexpected .
This tale from the New Age of Heroes brings together new and newly reimagined characters--Neon the Unknown, Firebrand, the Viking Judge and Ascendant--with such classic DC characters as the Huntress and Hawkman to stop an unstable isotope of mysterious Nth metal that threatens the very fabric of the Multiverse.
From Gotham City to Castle Frankenstein and beyond, the bonds between these heroes will be tested almost as soon as they're forged--and not everyone will survive the challenge!
Artists Ronan Cliquet ( Green Lanterns ), Cary Nord ( Wonder Woman ) and more team up with writer Steve Orlando ( Justice League of America ) in The Unexpected: Call of the Unknown , bringing high-stakes supernatural adventure to the DC Universe!
Collects the full series from The Unexpected #1-8.
This tale from the New Age of Heroes brings together new and newly reimagined characters--Neon the Unknown, Firebrand, the Viking Judge and Ascendant--with such classic DC characters as the Huntress and Hawkman to stop an unstable isotope of mysterious Nth metal that threatens the very fabric of the Multiverse.
From Gotham City to Castle Frankenstein and beyond, the bonds between these heroes will be tested almost as soon as they're forged--and not everyone will survive the challenge!
Artists Ronan Cliquet ( Green Lanterns ), Cary Nord ( Wonder Woman ) and more team up with writer Steve Orlando ( Justice League of America ) in The Unexpected: Call of the Unknown , bringing high-stakes supernatural adventure to the DC Universe!
Collects the full series from The Unexpected #1-8.
184 pages, Paperback
First published March 5, 2019
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46 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 12, 2019
A team book where half its members don't survive the first issue and are never replaced. Orlando tries so hard to make this a high concept, Grant Morrison type book and fails miserably. He's bent over so far backwards to make this come out of the events of Dark Nights: Metal that his head went up his own ass. I had to struggle just to finish this piece of garbage. It's about an Nth metal isotope created through hate (Yeah, it's a dumb concept!) that the characters are trying to keep away from Onimar Synn. There's a good idea, let's double down on Hawkman lore. The one character 90% of DC fans can't stand because of how f'd up DC has made his origins over the last 30 years.
The character designs are overly busy and just plain hideous. The art is cluttered and hard to follow from panel to panel. There's four different artists over parts of 8 issues. For a line that DC claims is about the artist first, this utterly fails. DC's New Age of Heroes is the modern day equivalent of the Image Comics of the 90's.
The character designs are overly busy and just plain hideous. The art is cluttered and hard to follow from panel to panel. There's four different artists over parts of 8 issues. For a line that DC claims is about the artist first, this utterly fails. DC's New Age of Heroes is the modern day equivalent of the Image Comics of the 90's.
April 3, 2019
You can find my review on my blog by clicking here.
It has been a wild ride for DC Comics’ The New Age of Heroes line-up as its turbulent and rocky ride has not garnered much praise and barely found a niche of readers to please in the past months. As each series slowly got axed and quickly drew to an end with only a second volume for a couple of series to come out later in the year, it’s safe to say that the quality of these series was always questionable. From series that showed without any shame great resemblances to heroes within Marvel’s playground to series that reintroduced new and old heroes within a post-Metal era, there was always something that didn’t work or simply couldn’t work alongside canonical ongoing series that have a larger fanbase supporting them. Following the aftermath of DC’s latest cosmic event in Dark Nights: Metal, new threats arise from the dark multiverse and challenge the brave into putting a stop to the madness. Collecting issues #1-8, The Unexpected: Call of the Unknown is the last series part of The New Age of Heroes that was canceled and looks to heavily draw upon Scott Snyder’s lore established within Metal.
What is The Unexpected: Call of the Unknown about? The story focuses on four new heroes who are introduced as the ultimate solution to protecting their adopted homeworld of the end of times although their hate for each other is fueled with rage and conflict. Although some of these heroes are existing heroes that were long forgotten and now reimagined in this brand new series, the story brings them to run into established C-class heroes within Gotham as well as the iconic hero Hawkman. Only their common goal to stop an unstable isotope of the mysterious Nth metal brings them to listen to another and stop the evil forces at work who seek destruction amidst the chaos. This volume that spins off directly out of the Metal event looks to further develop elements of the dark multiverse and delivers an action-packed adventure for fans to pick up.
Nothing about this volume turned out alluring in any shape or form. Its lack of focus and messy direction ultimately leads it to fall into its own trap and suffer a miserable death. The creative team behind this series couldn’t have found a way to turn this series around as the story completely flies above the head of the reader right at the first issue. With its lore heavily centered around elements from the Metal event, the story struggles to capture the attention of the reader and doesn’t ever look to slow down to give us a moment to breathe and digest the information. By the halfway mark, the only important element that is left for the reader to hold onto is a notion of good versus evil that is delivered through a theme of creation versus destruction. It doesn’t help when there a lot of plot holes that leave the reader clueless about how some things are even possible and how some things are even necessary.
It also doesn’t help when the volume introduces four new characters and half of them doesn’t survive the ride. While they seemed intriguing at first, they quickly become irrelevant in the grander scheme of things as they only serve as tools to deliver meaningless action sequences with no imaginative barrier. With some of there powers, absolutely anything was possible, making what was already a messy story even messier and lost in its own ideas. The artwork is average at best and further accentuates the disaster that is the plot. With vibrant colours that cover the whole spectrum and artwork focused on delivering bombastic sequences, there’s only violence left and right. This is a prime example of a story that doesn’t care about character development and that solely looks to play around with multiple concepts without any structure.
The Unexpected: Call of the Unknown is an expected action-packed disappointment that loses itself in its focus on Metal-related lore whilst forgetting the importance of introducing new heroes for readers to connect with in its messy story arc.
Yours truly,
Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/
It has been a wild ride for DC Comics’ The New Age of Heroes line-up as its turbulent and rocky ride has not garnered much praise and barely found a niche of readers to please in the past months. As each series slowly got axed and quickly drew to an end with only a second volume for a couple of series to come out later in the year, it’s safe to say that the quality of these series was always questionable. From series that showed without any shame great resemblances to heroes within Marvel’s playground to series that reintroduced new and old heroes within a post-Metal era, there was always something that didn’t work or simply couldn’t work alongside canonical ongoing series that have a larger fanbase supporting them. Following the aftermath of DC’s latest cosmic event in Dark Nights: Metal, new threats arise from the dark multiverse and challenge the brave into putting a stop to the madness. Collecting issues #1-8, The Unexpected: Call of the Unknown is the last series part of The New Age of Heroes that was canceled and looks to heavily draw upon Scott Snyder’s lore established within Metal.
What is The Unexpected: Call of the Unknown about? The story focuses on four new heroes who are introduced as the ultimate solution to protecting their adopted homeworld of the end of times although their hate for each other is fueled with rage and conflict. Although some of these heroes are existing heroes that were long forgotten and now reimagined in this brand new series, the story brings them to run into established C-class heroes within Gotham as well as the iconic hero Hawkman. Only their common goal to stop an unstable isotope of the mysterious Nth metal brings them to listen to another and stop the evil forces at work who seek destruction amidst the chaos. This volume that spins off directly out of the Metal event looks to further develop elements of the dark multiverse and delivers an action-packed adventure for fans to pick up.
Nothing about this volume turned out alluring in any shape or form. Its lack of focus and messy direction ultimately leads it to fall into its own trap and suffer a miserable death. The creative team behind this series couldn’t have found a way to turn this series around as the story completely flies above the head of the reader right at the first issue. With its lore heavily centered around elements from the Metal event, the story struggles to capture the attention of the reader and doesn’t ever look to slow down to give us a moment to breathe and digest the information. By the halfway mark, the only important element that is left for the reader to hold onto is a notion of good versus evil that is delivered through a theme of creation versus destruction. It doesn’t help when there a lot of plot holes that leave the reader clueless about how some things are even possible and how some things are even necessary.
It also doesn’t help when the volume introduces four new characters and half of them doesn’t survive the ride. While they seemed intriguing at first, they quickly become irrelevant in the grander scheme of things as they only serve as tools to deliver meaningless action sequences with no imaginative barrier. With some of there powers, absolutely anything was possible, making what was already a messy story even messier and lost in its own ideas. The artwork is average at best and further accentuates the disaster that is the plot. With vibrant colours that cover the whole spectrum and artwork focused on delivering bombastic sequences, there’s only violence left and right. This is a prime example of a story that doesn’t care about character development and that solely looks to play around with multiple concepts without any structure.
The Unexpected: Call of the Unknown is an expected action-packed disappointment that loses itself in its focus on Metal-related lore whilst forgetting the importance of introducing new heroes for readers to connect with in its messy story arc.
Yours truly,
Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/
March 27, 2019
A team book with a questionable team.
A comic trying to establish something new in the heat of Metal.
In the end it's too complicated as it brings in metal stuff and gave me heroes I could never really care about.
A comic trying to establish something new in the heat of Metal.
In the end it's too complicated as it brings in metal stuff and gave me heroes I could never really care about.
February 20, 2019
Even though DC was recycling a bunch of IP names and titles I had hopes for the new series pushed out after the Metal event. Perhaps, too many of the serials leaned on aspects coming out of Snyder's work (and admittedly it was not an outstanding event series-and I say this as someone who liked Snyder's American Vampire a lot).
This is a shame. Orlando is a writer who can turn out above average work. The setup he does for the Firebrand character is pretty decent, well it worked for me but...
Too many characters thrown away with insufficient development so I didn't care about them. I get the feeling that the sales figures were so bad that this was ordered to a much earlier than anticipated end.
This is a shame. Orlando is a writer who can turn out above average work. The setup he does for the Firebrand character is pretty decent, well it worked for me but...
Too many characters thrown away with insufficient development so I didn't care about them. I get the feeling that the sales figures were so bad that this was ordered to a much earlier than anticipated end.
November 2, 2018
What is supposed to be going on here?
I liked the idea of a team of new heroes, each using the name of an old DC character, but everything else is a mess.
The art is too busy, we get an info dump that apparently is leftover from an event story I never read, and it's kind of vague what the team's mission is and what the bad guys are up to.
I don't need stuff spoon fed to me, but here, stuff is almost randomly thrown at you. There's not enough of a solid hook for me to be patient with whatever the plan is and since they announced this series is getting cancelled, I guess I'm not the only one with that problem.
I liked the idea of a team of new heroes, each using the name of an old DC character, but everything else is a mess.
The art is too busy, we get an info dump that apparently is leftover from an event story I never read, and it's kind of vague what the team's mission is and what the bad guys are up to.
I don't need stuff spoon fed to me, but here, stuff is almost randomly thrown at you. There's not enough of a solid hook for me to be patient with whatever the plan is and since they announced this series is getting cancelled, I guess I'm not the only one with that problem.
March 17, 2019
This is a confusing mess, particularly so if you haven't read the Dark Metal event mini-series from which it springs. Steve Orlando can write much better than this. Here it's a lot of fighting and resurrecting for a McGuffin that is vaguely defined. The dialog is stiff and full of cliches. It doesn't help that at least three different artists contribute over the eight issues. Some of the character designs are pretty hideous (or derivative). I did enjoy seeing Hawkman, but he really doesn't have a whole lot to do.
January 9, 2019
Like so many of Steve Orlando's comic so far--this book has like 4-5 star ambition, yet maybe two star execution.
In some ways, it's reminiscent of Exiles and Matt Fraction's Defenders run, this comic is basically an ode to Grant Morrison's affection to the Multiverse.
It's about a multiversal superhero team whose purpose is to prevent crisis level events (i.e. Final Crisis, Metal and Milk Wars).
This book was a victim of the Bungled "Age of Heroes" and I only cared for this one and Sidways out of the bunch."
It has so much potential, but quickly got lost in it's own muliversal and metaphysical muck.
I'm really hoping Martian Manhunter is his breakout book, otherwise I'm going to have to write him off as a Morrison acolyte without any of the chops.
There's a good line about superhero comics towards the end "I don't need to destroy you...I need to change you". That gives me hope, and that's what good comics do. Best of luck on the next one, Steve.
In some ways, it's reminiscent of Exiles and Matt Fraction's Defenders run, this comic is basically an ode to Grant Morrison's affection to the Multiverse.
It's about a multiversal superhero team whose purpose is to prevent crisis level events (i.e. Final Crisis, Metal and Milk Wars).
This book was a victim of the Bungled "Age of Heroes" and I only cared for this one and Sidways out of the bunch."
It has so much potential, but quickly got lost in it's own muliversal and metaphysical muck.
I'm really hoping Martian Manhunter is his breakout book, otherwise I'm going to have to write him off as a Morrison acolyte without any of the chops.
There's a good line about superhero comics towards the end "I don't need to destroy you...I need to change you". That gives me hope, and that's what good comics do. Best of luck on the next one, Steve.
December 28, 2019
The title is accurate I didn't expect much of what happened in this, and I don't want to give it away. It starts with a superhero whose power requires her to get into at least one fight a day, but it's ultimately not about using fisticuffs to solve problems.
February 16, 2021
This could have been so much better. I'm not familiar with Neon the Unknown, but to create a new incarnation of him, along with several new characters only to kill off two of them right up front seems like pretty poor storytelling.
November 22, 2018
An unnecessary mess. The only thing I liked was the character design but the art itself was bad. No story or character building worth mention.
May 17, 2019
The inclusion of Hawkman is the only reason this gets 3 stars.
September 13, 2020
Uninteresting plot.
Uninteresting characters.
Uninteresting art.
What was the point of this ?
Uninteresting characters.
Uninteresting art.
What was the point of this ?
February 7, 2022
Many boring characters, including a guy who literally says, "I am using the fires of creation!" every page. Everyone's motivations are very silly.
January 29, 2020
This was a slog. It's bad enough that it's billed as a team book, but half of the team doesn't survive the first issue. I strongly suspect that the less interesting half survived, but who knows. The character designs are just not good. One of them is just Randy Savage, so that's... something. Worst of all, the story is dull, repetitive, and pretentious, especially at the end. Did anything good come out of New Age of Heroes?
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews