WILDCARDS: THE DRAWING OF THE CARDS #1: Opening Hand

If you reading this review I’m going to assume you read comics. If you read comics I’m going to assume you’ve read a superhero comic at some point. If you’ve read a superhero comic, I’m going to assume that at least once in your life you’ve dreamed of having superpowers of some sort. Flying, super strength or maybe something a little more exotic like being able to turn invisible or communicate with animals. What you probably haven’t done is thought about what would happen if you all of a sudden were made of living glass, turned into a horrifying looking snake creature or blessed or cursed with abilities and changes to your body making you unlike anyone else around you. This is something to keep in mind when reading Wildcards.

Cornell and the creative team pull off a remarkably faithful adaption of the book series in this opener. We are introduced to the super advanced race of the planet Takis and the central protagonist of Dr. Tachyon ( that’s NOT his name but it’s the name we humans can pronounce) and the somewhat horrible plan to experiment on mankind in order to advance the cause of the house Dr. Tachyon belongs to. We then thrown back to earth and introduce to wartime pilot and pulp hero Robert Tomlin aka Jet Boy, home at last from WWII only to find the world he left behind has changed. Cornell opts for the same jump back and forth out of time sequencing of events to tell the story like the novels and this chapter does an excellent job of establishing the mood and era. Dr. Tachyon’s actions to prevent his family members from enacting their plan consequently lands the experimental weapon in the hands of a former rival of the Jet Boy thus setting a series of events in motion that will culminate in the event known as Wild Card Day. It’s an opening chapter that takes its time and gets everything right by doing so. Cornell’s script very successfully captures a world fresh from the scars of a world war through the characters on page as well as what introducing an alien presence to a US military in 1945 would look like.

The line art from Hawthorne,and Di Benedetto is solid, gloriously detailed and beautifully colored by Ruth Redmond. The art team marvelously captures the otherworldly flamboyance of Takis and the Takisians themselves and contrast that otherworldly sci-fi elements smartly with the grounded down to earth tones of regular life here on earth in 1945. As someone who read several of the books, it’s evident that book cover art has been smartly referenced. Dr. Tachyon looks exactly as the novels describe him. Hawthorne does an excellent job with the look and feel of 1945 including clothing, vehicles and other elements. It’s an exceptionally well drawn issue and I’m sad Hawthorne isn’t drawing the entire series but excited to see what the other artists will bring to the world that he and the rest of the art team have so persuasively established the look and feel  in this opening chapter that certainly successfully brings to life  the world writers like Harold Waldrop, Roger Zelazny, as well as it’s creators George R.R. Martin and Melinda M. Snodgrass had in mind when they wrote and  created it.