Untruth and Injustice
I’ve always been a fan of good alternate history stories, and John Ridley’s 2006 comic The American Way was an excellent one. Set in 1962 in an America that had created its own team of superheroes, it depicts the chain of events set in motion when they gave powers to an African-American man whom they dubbed The New American – but they tried to avoid letting the public find out that he is not a white man. When the secret was revealed, it tore the government’s super team the Civil Defense Corps apart.
Ridley’s followup series, set in 1972, shows us what has become of original series protagonists Jason Fisher, Missy Deveraux, and Amber Eaton in the decade that followed. Jason fights to protect the African-American community, but because he’s working with the police to do it the people he’s fighting for don’t always support him. Missy is running for office on a States’ Rights platform. And Amber has become a terrorist, although she’s tried to avoid hurting innocents and only destroy government property.
But after a police attack on some of Amber’s colleagues in a previous issue resulted in her lover’s death, Amber decided that there are no innocents, only allies in her struggle and enemies. And as another former member of the CDC comes out of retirement to ask Jason to stop Amber, a new superhuman with an uncomfortably familiar set of powers emerges to swear his allegiance to her cause…
Recommendation: Buy