It’s tough to launch a superhero book these days. Without years of brand loyalty it’s tough to shape characters and events that don’t seem familiar at best, trite at worst. You’ve either got to come up with some unique powers for your characters or else put them in a perilous situation that no other writer has successfully created in the last seventy years. It’s a really tough job.

Sadly, Walker and Jones have not succeeded in making me want to invest my energy on their new team of superheroes. Apart from the main antagonist, I forgot all the other characters’ names as soon as I put the book down. I’m unclear what their powers are. I know that their world was without superheroes for three months. That those heroes died in space. But I don’t know why, and I’m not invested enough at the end of this issue to care why.

I don’t think this is due to bad writing. There appears to be an immense amount of detail in every aspect of this comic’s creation. I don’t doubt that Walker has invested a lot of time creating this universe in his head and knows probably dozens of issues worth of story already, down to what his characters are eating for breakfast.

Jones’s art speaks to that, as well. There is not a lazy or relaxed panel in this book. No washed out faces no cookie cutter buildings. A lot of care went into the creation of this comic. But, at the end of the book, I didn’t see an angle of this story that didn’t seem like a story I’d already read.

It’s almost unfair.

I’ve read a lot of superhero comics over the years. If you haven’t read Planetary, Irredeemable, Powers, Squadron Supreme, Kick-Ass, and The Avengers, this title may be great for you. It might a fantastic entry point for someone who’s never read superhero stories where a hero’s motives are deemed questionable. I can’t really say.

But if you have read those titles, I don’t think there’s enough in this first issue to satisfy your desire for new storytelling. But there is, at least, the promise of a good creative team. I’d love to see Walker, Jones, and Drake on other projects. If they attach the passion and attention to detail to a more original concept, I’m on board for as long as they’ll have me. Unfortunately, Danger Club does not appear to be the right project.