The Authority by Ed Brubaker & Dustin Nguyen

The Authority #7-8

by Ed Brubaker, Dustin Nguyen (Illustrator)

The Authority has saved Earth from annihilation over and over again. Now they want to rule the world. From best-selling creators Ed Brubaker and Dustin Nguyen comes this never-before-collected saga!

Following the dramatic events of Coup D'etat, the Authority has settled into its role as governing body of the United States. The other major world powers have adjusted to the regime change and are slowly coming to terms with the meaning it has for the future. But many Americans are unhappy to lose their inalienable rights. Can a second American Revolution be far behind?

Six-time Eisner Award-winning writer Ed Brubaker and artist Dustin Nguyen bring their unique vision to one of comics' most controversial titles: The Authority! Collects The Authority: Revolution #1-12.

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Science Fiction

328 pages, Paperback

First published March 26, 2019

About the author

Ed Brubaker (born November 17, 1966) is an Eisner Award-winning American cartoonist and writer. He was born at the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland.

Brubaker is best known for his work as a comic book writer on such titles as Batman, Daredevil, Captain America, Iron Fist, Catwoman, Gotham Central and Uncanny X-Men. In more recent years, he has focused solely on creator-owned titles for Image Comics, such as Fatale, Criminal, Velvet and Kill or Be Killed.

In 2016, Brubaker ventured into television, joining the writing staff of the HBO series Westworld.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was something new (shiny cover and all), but it turns out it was part of a larger storyline back in 2008ish. <--as far as I can tell.
I also assumed this would be a good jumping off point for new readers. Ehhh. Not so much. I mean, I could make out what was going on, and after a while I kind of/sort of figured out the general idea of what had happened before this story took place.
But.
I really wish I'd known this was a continuation of something.



The gist is that The Authority has taken over the governments of the world, because of something (a war, maybe?) that I'm guessing went down badly in previous issues.
Alas, nobody likes a dictator. Due to hinky spoilers, a group of Americana-themed super-geezers comes out of retirement rejuvenated and leveled up by a mysterious benefactor, ready to kick some Authority ass.



There's a bad guy & his henchmen (henchpeople) that apparently has a lot of history with The Authority. This leads to all sorts of nefarious plot twists and turns.
Wheee!



Jenny Sparks is dead and her reincarnation has been adopted by Apollo & Midnighter. Because when I think snuggly father-figure, I think Midnighter.
Right.
Anyway. Teenagers can be such a handful.
And when they can control reality? A much bigger handful.



It was good, but I have a feeling it would have been better if I'd known just a liiiiiittle bit more about the characters and their backstory. I kind of know about these guys, but not enough to appreciate everything that went on. Still. Overall, I liked this quite a bit.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

So what if your favorite superhero group got to rule the guvamint?! In this one, a group called The Authority, created by Warren Ellis and Brian Hitch, a Earth-saving team, is now ruling the USA, as Ed Brubaker and Dustin Nguyen inherited this fact in their 2004-2005 storyline. (And I’ll say, I’m ONLY reading this because I like Brubaker; okay, I also like the artwork of Nguyen a lot, so this team is the draw for me).

So, how’s it going with governing body of The Authority? Well, they’re doing good things, but in order to accomplish this, they must make decisions that take away some people’s rights to do anything they damned please. Enter Paul Revere and the Sons of Liberty, pushing for a second (right wing) American Revolution. One thing the left worldwide is trying to come to terms with: If the Earth needs saving, is deliberative democracy the right/fastest way to get things done (such as shutting down all carbon emissions in ten years, just for one tiny example)? This is part of what this run is about; how do you do “the right thing” when not everyone agrees, even when it appears to be in everyone’s (collective) self-interest?

I think this one volume collection of the Brubaker/Nguyen run, produced 11 years later, in 2019, is pretty good, over all. In the first half everything goes to hell, and so I thought that made sense. Jenny is the most engaging character, but this is not saying much as I’m not engaged all that much by either the heroes or the villains, though as you can expect the writing is gritty and witty in places and the art is darned pretty (rhyming in a review, yep). Maybe sometime I will go back and read the Ellis run. This one wasn’t bad. I’d like to see more serious work being done with these pertinent, crucial political questions. I’d like to see how the better writer that Brubaker is now and the better artist that Nguyen is now would deal with this situation in more complex ways, even as our world political situation has complicated (i.e., gone to hell).

On a personal note, as I am simultaneously reading Stray Bullets, where NO one is pretty and sculpted or glossy or witty or super-powered, it is quite the contrast to this largely typical-looking superhero comic. I choose (as Brubaker does) the gutter over the gorgeous, generally.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gotta say, overall, I was a bit disappointed in this. I expected to love this given the creative team involved. The first half of the book is just everything turning to shit for The Authority now that they've overthrown the U.S. government. It gets more interesting once Jenny Quantum gets more involved. In fact, that turned out to be the only time I was interested. Everyone else in the book was written to be such douche bags that I just didn't care what happened to them. The story also felt really drawn out, like it could have been a six issue story instead of twelve. Dustin Nguyen's art isn't as polished either. He uses all these extraneous lines, especially in his faces, that makes everyone look strange, almost chiseled in places. He's really come along way in the 10+ years since he drew this.

[RG · Rating 3 out of 5]

A 12 issue story that could have easily been trimmed to 6. I felt like none of the characters were likeable (except Jenny) not sure if that was Brubakers intention. The art was ok but I've seen alot better by Nguyen. Hes one of my faves so was a little dissapointed but I guess this did come out a few years ago.

[Kay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked this up & totally didn't see/notice/understand that this story is like a midway point in the Authority series/world. Whoops!

Luckily, the world was really easy to jump right into. I got what was going on right away & I got the characters... But, because this was Vol. 1 for me, I just didn't care about them the right way (as opposed to someone who is reading this as "Vol. 7"). I liked Midnighter and Apollo well enough, but I didn't get to really know them.
There was a lot of action and some big stuff went down (atomic-bomb ish).
At about the halfway point in the volume Jenny is introduced as a main character(/mover and shaker) in The Eternal Return to Infinity, Part 7 of 12. That was really the point of no return for me. Jenny is actually the worst character in the world, and she ruined the whole story for me. She's an all powerful (seemingly reincarnating) "mature" being in a kid's body. She starts of as an eight year-old, but then "ages" herself to fourteen, which is supposed to make all her cursing, smoking, and references to sex OK, I guess. (Blech.) Her character is just so flat, and I just don't get it. Maybe if I read the previous volumes I'd like her more? I dunno.
But (sadly) after this, I'm not interested in reading anymore of The Authority. Ah well.




Siiiiiide note, because I just can't not comment. Can we just side-bar here for a second and talk about "Peace in the Middle East" as a throwaway for Brubaker here.
While Habib's origin story as the new Doctor/world's Shaman was triggering/upsetting, I actually did appreciate that when he was gifted his Shaman magic (of understanding and knowledge) he inspired real peace between Palestinians and Israelis. Something anyone with skin in the game prays for every day. BUT, BUT! Peace between Palestinians and Israelis is not Peace in the Middle East & I can't quite get over how stupid and enraging it is to see an American writer write in a throw-away line about a real world issue, about a whole region, as a side plot point in their story without actually knowing anything about the ME.
The I/P conflict/war/regional issue (whatever you want to call it) has no effect over what's been going on in Yemen, including Russian & Saudi Arabian involvement, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. That's not even to mention the U.S. Gulf War & Iraq & Afghanistan War, Turkey currently being run by a dictator, Egypt's recent civil war & current fighting/controlling ISIS in the Sinai desert (with Israel's help btw), and Lebanon's government weak control against Hezbollah.

To really write about a future (Please G-d) I/P peace, Hamas being a terrorist organization would need to be addressed, as well as Egypt's and Jordan's role in the Palestinian people's refugee status, since it was them who declared war on Israel and then closed their boarders to their fleeing people in '48 and '67. There's honestly enough blame to go around tenfold for everyone involved...
Anyway, it's something I'm passionate about, so the "off-hand" blanket "Peace in the Middle East" throwaway by Brubaker was pretty ignorant and aggravating. FYI.

[Brendan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great continuation of The Authority storyline from volume 2, this miniseries hearkens back to Millar’s work at the end of volume 1, a vicious mix of politics and good old fashioned knock down drag out action. It’s a shame that The Authority collections are scarce-to-nonexistent after this volume; I’d love to see what happens next.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Authority: Runs the USA
Author: Ed Brubaker & Dustin Nguyen
Publisher: DC Comics
Publishing Date: 2019
Pgs: 328 pages
Dewey: 741.5973 BRU
Disposition: Irving Public Library - South Campus - Irving, TX
=======================================
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Summary:
The Authority has beaten invincible foes and insurmountable odds time and time again. Now they are taking over the United States government! When Paul Revere and the Sons of Liberty push back and incite the American populace into rebellion against their new rulers, can the Authority survive internal struggles long enough to maintain control without inciting a calamitous end to America as we know it? Will Washington, D.C., be left standing?
_________________________________________
Genre:
DC Comics
Graphic Novels
Trade Paperbacks
Superhero
Politics

Why this book:
Loved Stormwatch. The Authority is okay. But since I can’t get Stormwatch, I’ll take their little brother.
_________________________________________
Least Favorite Character:
Bendix is always a least favorite character.

Tropes:
The time travel aspect pitting Midnighter, secretly, against the rest of the Authority with a Freedom Fighters-pastiche thrown in is pretty cool. My thought is what if that wasn't Apollo in the future or if he's nuts and he's put Midnighter on a mission to ensure his future comes to pass. And I was both right and wrong. Nice.

All the stuff that Midnighter was tracking down while the team was broken up seems like stuff that Bendix would want to be stopped. A destroyed world wouldn't be worth ruling, after all. Course with the reveal later in the book, this makes sense too.

Hmm Moments:
Two obvious candidates for cloaked mystery villain, Bendix and/or future, time-traveling, evil Midnighter that future Apollo warned current Midnighter about. Hopefully, it's not obvious.

So...suspicious of the Doctor's confidant in The Garden of Ancestral Memory. The Garden reminds me of the Parliament of Trees from Swamp Thing. Never considered Swamp Thing as the Doctor's analog in the mainstream DCU, but it sorta fits

WTF Moments:
Rose Tattoo is well done with her Kiss of Death/Touch of Death. What she did to Doctor Jeroen...damn...just damn. A black tar bj...Brubaker is channeling Ellis strongly, could totally see that from the latter, surprised at it from the former.

The Sigh:
Of course, that's who the villain in the shadows is. Of course. Wonder if he's the future someone who Midnighter saw who set him off down the path that he helped put the team on.

Wisdom:
Why would you take the Swiss Army Knife character over the Overpowered? That's why. Cause at some point, Overpowered is just power, Swiss Army Knife is finesse. Unless Overpowered is going to kill and destroy, he's going to leave plenty of opportunities for SAK to take him down, in multiple ways.

Missed Opportunity:
The Authority vs The Evolutionaries, good fight, but they were pretty quick to move beyond it, the Authority vs Bendix, omnipotent, but doesn't finish the job, the Authority vs Midnighter, knows all your moves and how to counter them before you make them. But Rose Tattoo basically disappears. Seems like the Spirit of Murder would be front and center in a showdown like this.

And the Freedom Fighters pastiche were shuffled off fairly quickly for as powerful as they were built up as being.
_________________________________________
Pacing:
The book picks up a lot when the feint is revealed.

Last Page Sound:
I liked it.

Conclusions I’ve Drawn:
Status quo and the characters commenting on the return to status quo. I know almost every comic book story does this. But considering that Bendix's corporate control of the world would still exist after his death and defeat, they haven't saved anything. If anything, that goes status quo as well, back to the world the way it was before the Authority took over.
=======================================

[Artur Coelho · Rating 3 out of 5]

Se se tem o poder absoluto, a tentação de dominar pode sobrepor-se a tudo o resto. Se estamos a falar de seres com poderes, porque não utilizá-los para implantar uma utopia planetária, sob ameaça da força? Poderemos distinguir o autoritarismo benévolo do malévolo? Fundamentalmente, é tudo autoritário. Nesta série de doze edições que Ed Brubaker escreveu para The Authority, a super-equipa de personagens da Wildstorm que agora fazem parte da continuidade da DC, é essa a questão que a inicia. Mas depressa se desvanece numa trama bastante banal, onde velhos inimigos e conspirações bizantinas separam os personagens, para depois de peripécias que envolvem as nada inesperadas super-lutas entre si, se reunirem e derrotarem o vilão. Está bem escrito, e a Wildstorm sempre permitia algumas liberdades mais violentas, ou de humor mais negro, que nos comics mais mainstream ficam ausentes. Mas o que começa por ser uma intrigante abordagem ao corpus dos super-heróis, um e se assente na premissa porque é que os seres superpoderosos não usam as suas capacidades para dominar o planeta, em vez de se sujeitarem aos ditames de humanos que, perante eles, são meras formigas, resvala para o habitual neste género de banda desenhada.

[Mark Sutherland · Rating 3 out of 5]

[Insert deaddove.gif here]

Despite a few interesting ideas this end up being a fairly derivative superheroes fight the evil genius supervillain story, just with gratuitous swearing and nudity. The first half almost tackles with the conundrum of a team of superheroes who think they know best running a government but it's entirely undercut by it all being a set up for the second half. Which involves an unrecognisable Bendix doing a Moriarty impression badly. Aging up Jenny was one of the few good ideas as she is at least sufferable unlike the rest of them, but a chain smoking millennial seems completely anachronistic these days.
As a glimpse at post 9/11 but pre crash society is interesting but it's hardly the creator's best work and feels like it's milking the cash cow rather than pushing the envelope as the original series did at its best. A few decent spreads, but a lot of weird poses and bad faces in the mix as well, feels like it was either rushed or outsourced in places. At least they dropped Angie's cybernipples after the first issue.

[Dallas Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was A LOT of positives and negatives back and forth! Sometimes it felt great to read and sometimes it felt terrible.

Get ready for some very well structured writing and plot threading that is unfortunately joined by odd characterizations and loads of villains calling these heroes slurs!

The way Brubaker picks up from Millar with all the worst edge is really disappointing. There's a couple Authority members that just seem an over the top angsty shell of what they used to be, especially The Engineer.
The Midnighter really finds his footing in a lot of ways here, though.
Doctor goes back and forth on amazingly well written and disappointingly juvenile directions.

This book is slimy as hell, but has some really neat ideas of what to do with these characters. This book also has a lot of interesting ideals to share that are fitting of what The Authority are.

Hard to recommend, unless you want to see everything The Authority ever got up to.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
The story sags a bit in the middle (it could easily have been 10 issues), but the reveal that a multidimensional Henry Bendix is behind The Authority's woes is (un)surprising really, and thereafter Ed Brubaker ramps up the action with the reincarnated Jenny Sparks stepping through the looking glass from 8 years old to 14 and Bendix stepping out from the shadows (and his own Bleed Carrier) to wreak revenge on the gang of would-be rulers of the world. It all ends bloodily & swearily with the status quo restored. Similar to Superman the trouble with Jenny Sparks is that she is essentially omnipotent and so the stakes feel, if not inconsequential, then lesser obstacles...
Dustin Nguyen's artwork is great throughout though.

[Victor · Rating 4 out of 5]

While, in a way, I am getting tired of the "what if Batman and Superman did..." question, this book did a good job of preventing that from getting old, though which character is Superman might be a bit questionable. Batman is obvious.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brubaker as always writes a fine story with broad strokes and nuances, filled with politics and people beating each other.
I found Nguyen's art not only cold but distracting.
If this was paired with a better artist, could easily be four stars.

[Mee Too · Rating 3 out of 5]

the ideas the writer imposed on the 7-14 year old super hero where odd, even if (in his experience) 14 year old women are foul mouthed, cigarette smoking, & sexuality active, i don't believe it is an idea that needs to be broadcasted.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping Ed Brubaker would bring some more relatable human personalities to these characters, but unfortunately I just don't think that is The Authority's MO.
Not a bad story at all but not what I was hoping for.

[Aditya Agrawal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 2019, this is a reprint of the 2004-05 storyline

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was good but it's hard to follow-up Ellis's arogance. The boldness of the team does not really bear that much follow-up.

[A.J. Garner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to give this four stars. It just isn’t four stars. It is a little too much Deus Ex Machina. The characters also seem unlikeable.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

It felt like a continuation of volumes I've read years ago so I fell right back in and kept reading.

[M.i. · Rating 4 out of 5]

In typical Brubaker fashion, by the time the puzzle pieces have connected, the picture he has painstakingly laid out from jump is worth investing the time.

[uzhuj · Rating 1 out of 5]

Feladtam 2 rész után (~15%). Karaktereket se bírtam, az egész alapszitu irritált, nem értettem mi a célja az egésznek. Vizuálisan sem érdekes. MEH.

[J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't think this was a particularly good Authority book, nor a particularly good Brubaker book, even though both of those are generally excellent.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay, but I guess I was expecting something more, given the creative team involved. This, apparently, took place before either of them came into full grasp of their talents. It's not bad, but it's not all that great, either.