Wow. Can I say that again? I’m going to say it again. Wow.

How did THIS get published?

The only thing I knew about these characters was from a brief appearance in Birds of Prey. He was the first male member or something. So I knew the vaguest of details: One was for War and the other was for Peace. Beyond that? Not so much.

Early in the story we learn they’re from Washington DC. A-ha! There’s a story in that, right? War and Peace living in the capital? Capitol Hill and differing ideologies and all that? That’s rich with symbolism and stuff, right?

Apparently not rich enough. This comic is awful. So very very bad. It’s a crime against storytelling. The art makes me angry in a way the artist did not intend and the writing breaks the most basic rules of… writing.

Why do all the characters have that weird upper lip thing going on? Initially I thounght it was the artist trying to make everyone look bird-like – to continue a badly butchered theme or something – but even the zombies have it going on. Why? And the teeth! So weird and white and fused together in one massive chunk of… tooth. What’s going on here?

And let’s not go into all that was perpetrated against written English. But how about the most obvious violation against storytelling: ‘Show, Don’t Tell’. The part where father and son pretty much retell their history to each other is cringe inducing. There are so many others ways to convey the idea that ‘Hawk is angry’.

And what is ‘KAAIW’?

This story was offensive for all the dumb reasons. It was a concept that had the potential to tell a relevent and timely story about opposing ideologies working together for the good of the country. But considering the general ham-fisted approach to this early issue I’d be surprised if they can even put a coherent story arch together.

I’m guessing this relaunch had been planned for months. How on earth did this happen?