Wednesday Comics

by Mark Chiarello (Editor), Paul Pope (Author/Illustrator), Kurt Busiek

This outsized hardcover edition collects the entire critically acclaimed Wednesday Comics series that revisited the classic weekly newspaper full-page comics section. It features 16-different stories starring the World's Greatest Super Heroes including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, the Flash, Metamorpho and the Metal Men, written and Illustrated by some of the comic industry's top talents. The 11" x 17" trim size to approximate the Sunday funnies was spearheaded by DCU Editorial Art Director Mark Chiarello, whose past editing credits include BATMAN BLACK AND WHITE, and DC: THE NEW FRONTIER.

The full list of featured stories and creators is as follows:

BATMAN, by the Eisner Award-winning 100 BULLETS team of writer Brian Azzarello and artist Eduardo Risso

ADAM STRANGE, by writer/artist Paul Pope (BATMAN: YEAR 100) METAMORPHO, written by New York Times best-selling writer Neil Gaiman with Art by Eisner Award-winner Michael Allred (Madman)

THE DEMON AND CATWOMAN, written by Walter Simonson (Thor, MANHUNTER) with Art by famed DC cover artist Brian Stelfreeze

DEADMAN, written by Dave Bullock and Vinton Heuck, Art by Dave Bullock

KAMANDI, written by Dave Gibbons (WATCHMEN, GREEN LANTERN CORPS) with Art by Ryan Sook (Buffy The Vampire Slayer, ARKHAM ASYLUM: LIVING HELL)

SUPERMAN, written by John Arcudi (The Mask) with Art by Lee Bermejo (JOKER)

WONDER WOMAN, written and illustrated by Ben Caldwell (Dare Detectives)

GREEN LANTERN, written by Kurt Busiek (TRINITY, ASTRO CITY) with Art by Joe Quiñones (TEEN TITANS GO!)

TEEN TITANS, written by Eddie Berganza with Art by Sean Galloway

SUPERGIRL, written by Jimmy Palmiotti (JONAH HEX) with Art by Amanda Conner (POWER GIRL)

HAWKMAN, written and illustrated by Kyle Baker (PLASTIC MAN, Special Forces)

SGT. ROCK, written by Adam Kubert (SUPERMAN: LAST SON), ilustrated by legendary comics artist Joe Kubert

THE FLASH, written by Karl Kerschl (TEEN TITANS YEAR ONE, THE FLASH: THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE) and Brenden Fletcher, illustrated by Karl Kerschl

METAL MEN, written by Dan DiDio with Art by Ian Churchill (SUPERGIRL)

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Fantasy, Anthologies, Comic Book

200 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2010

About the author

Mark Chiarello was born on Halloween in 1960. His book "Heroes of the Negro Leagues" (Abrams Publishing) was named the second best sports book of 2007 by Amazon.com. A graduate of Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, Mark was fortunate enough to have as roommates, Kent Williams, John Van Fleet, and George Pratt. He worked as an illustrator for DisneyWorld for a short time in the 1980’s, then went on to work for Marvel Comics and ultimately DC Comics, where he is currently Art Director.

Mark lives in Maplewood, NJ with his wonderful wife Catherine and wonderful kids, Jack and Rose, and his almost wonderful dog, oscar.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wednesday Comics collects the run of Wednesday Comics published by DC in 2009 in a format resembling newspaper adventure strips. I bought the series when it was coming out and read it but forgot most of it in the ensuing years. I kept meaning to reread it but the newspaper pages were awkward and the issues were scattered between a few long boxes. Lo and behold, this popped up on Shopgoodwill and no one else bid on it so I got it for $6.99.

Like I said, I forgot most of this in the past 14 years but I thought the stories were good to great for the most part. There were a couple I skimmed because I wasn't a fan of the artwork - Hawkman by Kyle Baker, Wonder Woman by Ben Caldwell, and Teen Titans by Eddie Berganza and Sean Galloway.

Of the rest, I'd have to say Deadman by Dave Bullock & Vinton Heuck, Supergirl by Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Connor, and The Flash by Karl Kerschl and Brenden Fletcher were my favorites. Hell, I even liked the Metal Men strip by Dan DiDio but how can you dislike anything drawn by Jose Luis Garcia Lopez? You can't.

Befitting the newspaper format, this is an oversized hardcover. Instead of reprinting the issues as they were published, the stories were printed together, making for a much smoother reading experience.

It's funny that DC has this reputation of being Marvel's copycat boring brother, and sometimes they are, but they also published innovative books like this. And stuff like Watchmen and Sandman, if you've heard of those. Sadly, they don't do as many experimental works since Mark Chiarello got the axe a few years ago.

The adventure strips of our ancestors would be proud. Four out of five stars.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've tried this behemoth several times, but never made it all the way through -- gave it a more serious shot this time and I'm glad I did. This sort of project shows off why DC serves up my superhero comics of choice, despite the fact that the company as a whole flounders and gets it wrong almost constantly in comparison to the House of Ideas.

But Wednesday Comics is equal parts art, retro camp, classic, and bizarre. I love that. I love reading through the comments and seeing that everyone has vastly different takes on what the winners and losers in this collection are. I love that this structurally simple book of fifteen stories turned me on to characters and artists I'd never considered before, while other creators that I thought could do no wrong really just couldn't seem to make it happen. I love that DC made sure to use an equal sampling of A-list and C-list characters in assembling this project. If monthly DC comics were as varied, continuity-free, well-drawn and utterly screwball as this collection -- hell, I might even start buying monthly comics again.

I often try to write these superhero reviews to an audience of people who don't read superhero comics, and in that vein I'll say that this is a book I'd like to show my friends who are book snobs and design snobs -- who look at my collection of identically-sized, identically-printed graphic novels and roll their eyes.

And because everyone else is doing it, here's my list of good-to-crap:

1. Adam Strange by Paul Pope (This is an artist I came to the collection distinctly DISliking and a character I knew almost nothing about. But HOLY CRAP IT IS INSANE AND BRILLIANT.)

2. Green Lantern by Busiek and Quinones (Busiek is a guy that can just write any character in any format. And the art is UNBELIEVABLE. I would collect a series of this in a second.)

3. Kamandi by Gibbons and Sook (The most intelligently-written of the bunch. Gibbons' grey matter puts everyone else to shame.)

4. Superman by Arcudi and Bermejo (This story is forgettable, but the art is insane. INSANE.)

5. Supergirl by Palmiotti and Conner (I've always found Palmiotti distastefully bad, but this story is adorable and funny and uses great side characters.)

6. Metamorpho by Gaiman and Allred (This team at their worst is still going to be pretty neat. This was pretty neat. Gaiman does a great impression of Peter Milligan doing an impression of Mike Allred.)

7. Flash by Kerschl and Fletcher (This story would be higher on the list if it made any sense. Said another way, this story makes absolutely no sense whatsoever and is still ambitious and well-designed enough to be in the top 50%.)

8. Batman by Azzarello and Risso (I am so utterly bored by this team's ability to be completely adequate.)

9. Deadman by Bullock and Heuck (Award for most second-rate use of a second-rate character by a second-rate creative team. This is right around what I expect from a regular monthly superhero comic.)

10. Sgt Rock by Kubert and son (This should have been higher on the list for overall serviceability, but I just don't like the Kuberts, and I don't think they worked very hard on this or tried to come up with any new twists on a standard war comic.)

11. The Demon and Catwoman by Simonson and Stelfreeze (Probably my highest hopes for the whole collection. Simonson is a genius, but has he ever read a Catwoman comic? And Stelfreeze might just not be that interesting when paints aren't involved.)

12. Teen Titans by Berganza and Galloway (It looked cool, but this was probably the worst writing of the bunch. Not confusing; just stupid.)

13. Wonder Woman by Ben Caldwell (I feel super bad because I'd guess more work went into this story than any other, but I couldn't even read this. It was pretty, but it had like a million panels per page and I don't think Wonder Woman even got into costume until the last two of them. Maybe I'll try it one more time, since it seems like no one else gave it a shot either.)

14. Metal Men by Didio and Garcia-Lopez(Guess what? The EIC with no writing experience wrote a story and it's totally boring, sexist and uses dated cultural references. Whoda thunk?)

15. Hawkman by Kyle Baker (I consider Baker a genre-redefining renaissance man. And I get that this is obviously an experiment with 3D comic art, which I've dabbled in myself. But what happened? Why is this horrifically ugly? Why did he decide to like, not draw it? Why did this get printed at all?)

[Sesana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like with all anthologies, the rating is really splitting the difference. Some of the stories here were fantastic, others... not so much.

The best stories were The Demon and the Catwoman (Teaming up Catwoman and Etrigan was... unexpected. It ended up being fun, even if Catwoman was largely absent in the middle.), Deadman (A character I know little about, but a very interesting story that seemed to really work to his stengths.), Kamandi (Post-apocalyptic and fabulous), Supergirl (Cute and somewhat silly, and co-starring the Super Pets.), and Metamorpho (A bit of an affectionate parody, though the periodic table pages may have been over-ambitious. The joke ran a little thin.)

The Batman, Adam Strange, Hawkman, and Sgt. Rock stories were just not to my taste, though I really disliked the art in Hawkman. I did like the Teen Titans story, but wasn't a fan of the art. The Wonder Woman story I simply couldn't get through because of the style. The rest were good enough. As a whole, there was far more good than bad in the collection, and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes a little camp and a little retro in their comics.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wednesday Comics was a 12-week experiment DC Comics ran last summer. Every week a new newspaper-sized comic was released with each page continuing a character’s story from the week before.

Of course major characters like Batman, Superman, and Green Lantern were featured, but some of the more compelling stories featured Kamandi, the last human on a future world inhabited by sentient animals; and Metamorpho, whose ability to transform into any element is lampooned by writer Neil Gaiman.

Since it was experimental, results vary. Deadman, a character I’m not typically interested in, has a great story and the team of Dave Bullock and Vinton Heuck make excellent use of the oversize page. On the other hand, the Wonder Woman story by Ben Caldwell reads like a layout nightmare.

My favorite stories were the Metamorpho one mentioned above and Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner’s Supergirl. Those two are easily the most fun in the collection.

Final word: this is an extremely oversized hardcover so expect it to be huge.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really inspirational for me to see how each creative team tackled the unique "sunday" format. One that really stood out for me was the green lantern story: The artwork was amazing and they threw elements of "the right stuff" into it, and I love that movie. The flash story was similarly spectacular. The tone of much of the material was a mix of parody and reverence for the golden age. I don't read superhero comics much these days unless it is something special and peripheral like this.

[Will Robinson Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nostalgia bait at its best. When I picked up my library copy of DC Comics Wednesday Comics a huge grin could be seen on my face. I took a moment to examine all the craftsmanship and quality of this hardcover. This is thing looks like something you want to share with someone who truly wants to know what makes the comic book medium special. There is just an enchanted quality to the book. If DC Comics were trying to do an experiment I am proud to be a guinea pig. What is Wednesday Comics all about? This collector's item is a cool way for future generations to experience what it was like for the greatest generation to read golden age comics. I'll admit that there are a few stories not as great as the heap of tales in this anthology but that is not why this piece of art exist. This book screams "Comics are Fun". Before I really got into the individual stories I spent sometime just gazing at the art. There are so many different types and styles of art in this book. Some artwork really lends itself to the old school feeling of reading comic strips in a newspaper. Some of my personal favorite artist in this book include Paul Pope (creator on Battling Boy), Ryan Sook, Mike Allred, and of course Lee Bermejo (who did artwork on Batman: Damned & Batman: Joker). The mention artist are just really good in this book. DC Comics editorial does take a few risks here concerning writers; some of them work out well but a few fall short. But hey at this book introduces readers to characters that we tend not to read. A good example of this is Neil Gaiman on Metamorpho. Gaiman is clearly trying to give readers that retro feeling of the comics from the 50s & 60s but he and Mike Allred do some quirky things with the storytelling that you just don't see in modern comics nowadays. Kurt Busiek's Green Lantern story fits right in with the silver age feel of Absolute DC: The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke.
In conclusion this book is a definite buy and must have for any graphic novel collector. I mean if you sit this huge book on a living room table their not a curious soul who is not going to look at it. I pray we get more experiments like this in the future.

[Sridhar Reddy · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Wednesday Comics" is a throwback to a bygone era of when comic strips had a prominent place in the American newspaper. Originally published in 2009 as oversized broadsheet tabloids printed weekly on newsprint, the series harkens the full-page glory of old Winsor McCay strips with the full color of the Sunday pages in the 70s and 80s.

The final results are imbalanced in that many of the storylines cannot keep up with the splendid artwork and regal format of the series. But at their worst the stories are entertaining, and at their best they are pure magic. Examples of the latter are "Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth" by Dave Gibbons and Ryan Sook, and "Strange Adventures" by Paul Pope. Both of these stories embody the classic pulp of the Sunday pages, bringing back the mystique of "Prince Valiant" and "The Phantom" respectively.

Many stories in this collection do not work in that they defy the classic format by opting for a modern aesthetic that doesn't translate. In particular, the "Teen Titans" storyline by Eddie Berganza with art by Sean Galloway reflects a modern animated feel, feeling more like an artistically accomplished version of "Pokemon" rather than a classic pulp comic strip. Furthermore, John Arcudi and Lee Bermejo's "Superman" story opts for photorealism, which does not fit at all as a newsprint story. It reads more like a full-color advert.

But in all, the hardcover collection of these stories is a simple sight to behold. The large format allows us to explore each frame and fall into them, unlike the microscopic reduction that we find in today's newspapers. If anything, 'Wednesday Comics' is an urgent plea to newspapers to bring back large-format Sunday comic strips, as it eloquently and stunningly makes the case for the level of enjoyment and wonderment that these works of art bring to the reader. Recommended for purists of comics and sequential art.

[Nour · Rating 3 out of 5]

Batman: He's like a freakin' black-widow-magnet assassinator! All the women in his life die. And yet I still find it hard to ever sympathise with the bat.
Kamandi: Cute lions and tigers <3 Too much narration, didn't like the narrative style overall really.
Superman: Cute but boring, I would have been more interested in a genuine crisis of faith and the human race. Tied up too nicely, though not predictable, I'll give it that.
Deadman: I wanted more backstory, interesting concept, not interesting enough to make me google the character. Perhaps it was the emphasized accent and cliched protagonist vernacular.
Green Lantern: Enjoyed the most, learnt about a superhero that wasn't particularly very high on my radar.
Metamorpho: Neil Gaiman writing. What more could I say?
Teen Titans: Meh.
Strange Adventures: are strange.
Supergirl: Aww Streaky and Krypto, best bit was when Streaky attacked the mouse.
Metal Men: Too much happening in a short span of time, good though.
Wonder Woman: Un-engaging.
Sgt. Rock: Nice to see someone without superpowers for a change?
The Flash: WHAT!
The Demon and Catwoman: you know you're a lit student when the most amusing part of this comic was the iambic pentameter and the nod to Shakespeare.
Hawkman: And so we flap! Because Dinosaur island exists, randomly. What am I saying? After all this, I'm being pedantic about dinos??

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

DC's "newspaper experiment" is a sight to behold and a treasure to read. Collecting the 12-issue series which allowed populars writers, artists, and characters to be crafted in classic newspaper-style format, Wednesday Comics offers treats for everyone. Brian Azzarello provides a gritty Batman murder mystery, Walt Simonson pairs up the Demon with Catwoman for a mystical theft, and Ben Caldwell offers a visually stunning Wonder Woman tale; other highlights include Kamandi by Dave Gibbons, Amanda Conner's Supergirl, and Dave Bullock's Deadman. yet for my money, the greatest tale is the Metamorpho collaboration between Neil Gaiman and Mike Allred - exquisite!

[Jota Houses · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una impresionante reedición en tapa dura y a tamaño real de un experimento/homenaje de DC a la clásica tira cómica de los periódicos americanos. Sensacionales páginas serializadas a tamaño maxi con historias de los superheroes emblemáticos de DC a cargo de primeras figuras del comic. Historias fuera de continuidad (o en el limbo) que permiten la creatividad correr libre. El nivel de las historias, como en todas las antologías, es variable pero en general el comic es una delicia.

[Michael Emond · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection I had wanted to get my hands on for a long time. And let's face it - a lot of the appeal was the format. It is HUGE and is a showcase of 15 creator teams publishing a 12 page story one page at a time (I think there were 12 newspaper issues of this and each one contained one page if each story). There are also two one page bonuses (one with Plastic Man that works - because it is fast and funny and is a self contained one-page story - and one self indulgent one of the Creeper that should Keith Giffen shouldn't have indulged in).

So, was it worth it? Yes and no. Yes - there are some great stories/art in here and this is a once in a lifetime gamble to have it in this format/size so I doubt we will ever see the like again. No - there are some stinkers in here and that's a shame. Some creators just didn't "get it" and I wish the editor who made this labour of love come to life could have sat them down and said "no, this is what will work in this format - scrap that idea". This will never happen again so I wish every story was a home run. Some are bunt singles and some struck out entirely. Let's review from best to worst.

Kamandi: David Gibbons wrote a wonderful self-contained story and the art by Ryan Sook deserved the over-sized format. Gorgeous. David/Ryan smartly did it in the style of an old time newspaper serial Prince Valiant and that's why it gets top marks. They "get it". If you are going to publish this as a newspaper - don't reinvent the wheel. See how the masters did it, back in the day, and use their style. Also - have an artist whose art deserves to be newspaper sized.

Hawkman: Kyle Baker wrote and drew and nice self contained story that moves along at a brisk pace. Kyle is a bit of a magician when it comes to art. He has a style but when he wants he can change that style to suit the tone of the story. The art here (some of it computer generated) also calls back to old Flash Gordon. And like Flash Gordon there is a threat for each page - each page is its own episode. Kyle - like Gibbon - took what he saw from the old masters and transformed it into a modern Hawkman story.

Supergirl: Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Palmer, this wife and husband team (I know Jimmy would want Amanda to have top billing) didn't mimic any of the old masters like the first two on my list but they "get it". Each page is treated like a chapter with a start and finish and it leads to the end of the story. A VERY fun adventure with Supergirl/Krypto/Streaky (I love Streaky) with some Aquaman and Dr. Midnite thrown in. It helps that Amanda is one of the premiere cartoonists working today and her art looks amazing and that Jimmy is a master craftsman when it comes to storytelling.

Metal Men: Dan Didio and José Luis Garcia Lopez. The story is fine but loses marks because it feels like a retread of way too many Metal Men comics in the sense they are one of the few super-hero teams writers loved to kill at the end of every adventure. I know they can be rebooted (literally - like a computer) but...stop it please. It loses emotional impact when they die all the time. But..man José's art is worth every price of admission you want to charge. He is one of my fav's of all time and after 40+ years it still looks as sharp and vibrant as ever.

Batman: Azzarello/Risso: Great art - solid story - nothing memorable but well done.

Superman: Arcudi/Bermejo - Bermejo is a master but his art isn't my taste. It works well here. I will admit - at the start I hated the story and how Batman treated Superman (Superman was all "do I belong on this planet?") but it did get explained at the end and do appreciate Batman's one panel redemption on the last page.

Deadman and Green Lantern - great art, fun stories.

Metamorpho: Neil Gaiman/Mike Allred. Neil continues his trend of falling from being the greatest writer in the world - whom I adored to "I guess he is all out of good ideas and forgot how to tell a compelling story". In 1990 Neil would have easily done a story like this and made it a classic. Now he decides to take up two pages doing a have baked idea of Metamorpho going through every element in the periodic table and using the letters in the elements to be in the sentence he is saying. It is like a bad improv game. This is only saved because Mike Allred's art is so amazing.

Sgt. Rock - a basic story that doesn't use the format well (i.e. would fit in any Sgt. Rock comic fro mthe 70's) but love seeing Kubert's art.

Demon and Catwoman: Not bad but a tad confusing story-wise - not helped by the art - and two characters that don't fit together and shouldn't be put together.

The Flash: Some great art by Fletcher but the story is waaaay too confusing by Kerschi. Wanted to do a weird time travel story (did we need another one of those?) and could not stick the beginning middle or landing. Karl bit off more than he could chew - his eyes were bigger than his stomach - his ambition outweighed his ability. fail. but the art is really great.

Now we get to the major fails:

Adam Strange by Paul Pope. Poor Adam. One of my favourite characters but in modern times nobody knows how to write for him. This should have been an easy "do it like Flash Gordon" story (because he was inspired by Flash Gordon) but when you give it to Paul Pope - forget about it. Never liked his art (but some people love his loose style) , and this take on Adam misses the point of the character. Yikes.

Wonder Woman: Ben Caldwell. Ben says it best himself in his self-depreciating bio at the end of the book, the story is "obtuse, self-indulgent, unreadable, missed the whole point of the format, a combination of LSD, cocaine and powdered Disney film reels, incredibly bad story-telling". I have to forgive him a bit for the pain I went through trying to get through his 12 pages (I think it took an hour - it felt like days) because he is self-reflective enough to realize he "messed up" and anyone with a sense of humour like that is someone I instantly like. He also adds "one of the boldest experiments in mainstream comics". And I have to agree with him again. I am taking a bit of time on him because it was SUCH an epic failure but he put his heart and soul into it. It wasn't a failure for lack of talent or effort - he just didn't have the craft to pull this off or to realize it could not be pulled off. Even though I rate it lower than Sgt. Rock...let's face it - they phoned it in. That is only higher because it was a more enjoyable read. Ben's Wonder Woman actually caused me physical pain to read.
Let me explain - Every page has about 100 panels as small as you might imagine (okay I am exaggerating...I counted one page and it clocked in at 54 panels...so even at the correct count your jaw should be on the floor). And they don't always read from left to right...they read from left to right to up to down to right to left to down to up to ...you get it. When he says he sniffed "Disney Film" he is making reference to the fact he tried to put a reel of animated film on the page...and you can't. One format is one format and you can't mix them. They story - at its heart is actually an okay one. A mix of Nemo in Slumberland and Wonder Woman's quest for her uniform (bracelets, lasso, girdle...) while fighting the bad guys. But it is unreadable because of..the 54 panels per page. If I was his friend, I would say "Ben - go back and see what Windsor did in the original Nemo in Slumberland and recapture that. More is not always more. Simplify and channel his genius into the story you are trying to write and calm down with the panels." So yes - this story is a failure in every sense (well the art is great so not EVERY sense) but it is an EPIC failure born from trying too hard. So, because of that, I do forgive Ben for the pain.

Teen Titans: A horrible, unreadable, story by Berganza and the art by Sean Galloway looks computer generated and is the Worst. Maybe some people like it but I could not hate it more and I am sad he was invited to be part of this. Any other artist would have been better than him. They beat Ben out as the worst story because at least Ben tried.I have no idea what this was but it reeked of "missing the point and bringing nothing new to the table and having no talent to pull it off".

[Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Public library copy.

I'd love to add this $50 book to my own library someday. I think even the most sophisticated comic book reader won't like all the stories presented here, but there's enough diversity that at least a few tales should appeal to the masses. I really enjoyed the long, vertical presentation with bigger pages (blown up art) compared to the size standardization of most books, but it does make for unusual handling trying to find comfort. For those complaining about discomfort reading comics from a heavy iPad I imagine this would be worse. Most stories are 12 pages long and I found I was only able to typically read one story per sitting because of the odd shape, size, and weight of the book. If on the occasion I read two stories in a row I had to reposition myself and the book.

As a parent of young girls the Supergirl story was easily the most popular in my household due to Amanda Conner's cute, personalized art style. My oldest is a huge Wonder Woman fan, but found it immensely difficult to waddle through the tiny, dense panels of that story so that was a disappointment as I am sure she did not read the entire story. The small presentation affected their opinion of the art, which I thought was good, they did not, but the small panels did not let the artwork breathe. The same dense criticism could be aimed at the Dead Man story.

The Kumandi story was terrific in a Prince Valiant kind of way. It had the heart, adventure, and spirit by design of those old newspaper action adventures. Drawn lovely.

The Flash story was a neat time travel story and had an interesting way of leading the readers eye all over the page.

The Adam Strange story by Paul Pope was fine, but it wasn't as great as I expected. Perhaps had I read the book out of order and read Kumandi after Adam Strange I'd feel different. I like anything Paul Pope creates, whereas my wife is not a fan of his art style or Charles Burns and dismisses their work at a glance.

As I follow writer and artist creators rather than corporate characters the other winners, for me, were (not surprisingly): the Neil Gaiman and Michal Allred Metamorpho story, which introduced Snakes/Chutes and Ladders and found a clever way to use dialogue with every acronym (I think, mind you, I did not verify by counting) from the Periodic Chart. The Brian Azzarello and Edwardo Risso Batman story was good but not great. The Dos Kubert Sgt. Rock story (which I enjoyed and my children did not) was a great reminder how nobody draws WWII Sgt. Rock stories better than Joe Kubert. I even liked the Hawk Man story, which was about as close as anyone got to writing a JLA story.

The Metal Men; the Teen Titans; The Demon (meets Catwoman); the Green Lantern, and the Superman stories were all more visually arresting than the plots, which isn't to say they're not good, but I just didn't find those works as interesting.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like that DC Comics tries new & different things with their creative projects, such as this very book and Solo: top industry talent(*) (*): In the case of 'Wednesday Comics', one story is written by Dan DiDio, whom I would hesitate to consider 'top industry talent'. collaborating on short stories. This book allowed me to read stuff from some of my favourite creators, but also to discover new ones as well.

As with any collection of the sort, and depending on your tastes, you are bound to find some great stories and a few not-so-great ones, which leave you scratching your head wondering how this stuff got to be included in the first place.

Tastes are as varied as people, so when I rate the stories a certain way, it is very possible that you will disagree with one or a few - or maybe even all of them - and that's okay; that's normal.

The best way to enjoy this book is to read it slowly, maybe even only a few pages at a time, in order to better appreciate the art on newspaper-sized sheets. There are stories that I wanted to read before others - some of which were disappointing - and some stories that I put off until later - some of which were better than I'd expected.

5 stars
Surprisingly - for me, anyway - the Supergirl story was the best part of the book. It is light-hearted, funny, vibrantly coloured. It is also the only story to which I would award 5 stars.

4 stars
The Batman story could've gotten 5 stars if only ther had been more to it. It seems pretty sparse when compared with other stories that exploit the over-sized format to its fullest potential. Such stories include the Wonder Woman, the Metal Men, and the Flash. The Hawkman story was actually a lot of fun - I had noticed a certain trend in popular opinion on Goodreads that basically does not look favourably on Kyle Baker's contribution, so I was pleasantly surprised with this story. Superman and Metamorpho, as well as the 1-page bonus Plastic Man story round out the 4 stars category.

3 stars
Green Lantern, Kamandi, Sgt. Rock, Adam Strange, Deadman, the team-up of The Demon & Catwoman .

2 stars
The story starring the Teen Titans was interestingly rendered - almost like a cartoon, I'd say - but was utterly pointless.

1 measly star
The 'bonus' 1-page [no-]story starring The Creeper, who I don't get or see the point of. Please, DC: do me a favour and just leave the crap out next time, m'kay?

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Throughout the 30s, 40s, and 50s, adventure strips dominated the Sunday newspaper comics pages. Oversized, full color pages featured the thrilling tales of Prince Valiant, Tarzan, Flash Gordon, and countless others. Under the guidance of DC art director Mark Chiarello, Wednesday Comics successfully re-captured this lost era with a series of oversized weeklies à la the Sunday funnies (dubbed Wednesday rather than Sunday in honor of the day new comics arrive in stores). This beautiful 11"x17" 200-page hardcover volume collects all the tales from the incredible 12-week run. While each featured A-list talent, some stories work better than others. Jack Kirby's creation Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth (expertly rendered by writer Dave Gibbons and artist Ryan Sook); Paul Pope's unique take on Adam Strange; and especially Hawkman as delightfully envisioned by Kyle Baker lovingly embrace the format and lessons of their antecedents. Other excellent tales include writer Brian Azzarello's and artist Eduardo Risso's noir-infused Batman; the charming Silver Age style science fiction adventure of the Green Lantern (Kurt Busiek, writer and Joe Quiñones, art); the Karl Kerschi/Brenden Fletcher unique time travel take on The Flash; and an unusual team-up of The Demon and Catwoman (imagined by writer Walter Simonson and artist Brian Stelfreeze). Regardless of the story, one mood permeates the entire volume: fun. Combine all this with previously unpublished strips starring Plastic Man and Creeper, original sketches, and Chiarello's impressive book design, and Wednesday Comics quickly emerges as must-experience for all classic comic book fans.

[J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a gloriously fantastic idea, and at the best of times, the huge size is magnificent for showcasing the art. That being said, the stories and art are incredibly inconsistent. The best stories, like Metamorpho, Flash, the Demon, and Supergirl, all have a significant hook--particularly the Supergirl story, which is hilarious, and the Flash, which is like some awesome episode of Twilight Zone. The Superman and Wonder Woman stories both have incredible art, but neither one has a particularly amazing story. But too many of these stories or just passable--Green Lantern, Hawkman, Strange Adventures, Kamandi, Metal Men, and even Batman all look good in the big size, but the story isn't big or interesting enough to really warrant any real attention. And one of them--the Teen Titans story--is awful in every way: the story is a muddle with too many characters, and too much tie-in to the "real" comics world, and the art looks like a cartoon--which might be good, except the palette is so bland it makes you want to take a nap instead of reading it. Overall, a cool idea, but the writers (and a few of the artists) didn't really live up to the over-sized expectations.

(Also, (and I didn't think I'd ever say this,) this book is too big. It's ungainly to read, and I dropped it a few times trying to prop it up in some way. But that's sort of inherent in the idea, I guess.)

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was a mixed bag, but more good than bad. It has a pretty top notch group of creators. The idea was to recreate the old newspaper adventure comic strips, and this series were originally purposed as a series of tabloid sized newspapers. I read the hardcover, but I have to say I didn't care for the format. The book is HUGE, as in 14x20. It is supposed to the size of a tabloid newspaper, but it just seemed too awkward for me.

I enjoyed most of the stories. I thought the weaker stories were Wonder Woman, Flash, Catwoman/Demon, and maybe Hawkman. The others were pretty strong.

So overall, I did enjoy it, but I would have preferred to read it at standard comic size. Some people may like the bigger format, but I have heard mostly negative reactions.

In any case, the stories did do a good job of capturing the old school adventure strip feel. The stories aren't the most cerebral (although Neil Gaiman did a great job at a Silver Age parody) but are still enjoyable.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Paul Pope's Strange Adventures was the best of the bunch!

[Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fire everyone who isn't Paul Pope.

[Aidan]

Skipped around this reading the authors I like, the art is great throughout (other than a rare miss from Kyle Baker experimenting with a 3D rendered style)

Superman- pretty standard Superman stuff, the main appeal is maybe a hot take, but seeing Bermejo with a tolerable writer like Arcudi (as opposed to his usual writer to endlessly frustrating edgelord Azzarello) was a relief

Adam Strange- good dirty Paul Pope fun, silver age yarn with modern readability and some delightful, rule bending layouts. The man always pushes the form in ways that are fresh but rooted in past pulpy trends to build suspense or land a cool moment. Great revisionist shine for Alanna’s character

Supergirl- Morrison wasn’t lying when they said this was the best modern reference point for Kara’s character. I already knew Amanda Conner was one of DC’s GOATS, but adding more of Palmiotti’s written work to the reading list now too

Sgt. Rock- cute to see Joe return to his most iconic character for a story by his son. Adam eschews the usual artist-turned writer foibles and keeps the script simple to let Joe’s trademark body language, expressions, and movement shine

The Flash- Is this the best Barry Allen story? Immediately looked for more from Kerschl and Fletcher. Used the format of Sunday half pages and alternating styles to explore the division in Barry and Iris’ relationship and pushed both the format of this comic and the conceit of a Flash story to it’s breaking point, in parallel to the fracturing marriage. Even had moments of pathos for Grodd. The only story in here that felt really dire and became a total page turner

The Demon & Catwoman- Simonson harkens back to his Thor and Orion work in a most surprising team up that remains indebted to Kirby, with the necessary epic tone colored with humor. Simonson would surely kill a Demon run of his own

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

DC Comics' inventive and imaginative Wednesday Comics is a mixed bag of stories and art but the general idea is pretty amazing. The throwback to old newspaper style pages was a treat although hard to physically handle at times (Its a HUGE book). There were some tremendous reads:

Azzarello and Risso's Batman
Gibbons and Sook's Kamandi
Pope's Strange Adventures
Palmiotti and Connor's Supergirl

There were some that I couldn've done without:

Arcudi and Bermejo's Superman
Gaiman and Allred's Metamorpho
DiDio and Garcia-Lopez's Teen Titans
Caldwell's Wonder Woman

And of course there were tales in between. The overall book was such a unique event its hard to pass up. Really fun stuff.

[George Khoury · Rating 3 out of 5]

In some spots, it's charming. In others, not so much. Wednesday Comics is a bit of wasted opportunity but a very noble experiment. Loved the Batman story by Azzarello and Risso, Adam Strange story by Paul Pope and, especially, The Kamandi story that's writen by Dave Gibbons and illustrated by Ryan Sook (WOW!). Admire Garcia-Lopez's art in this but the Metal Men script given to him by writer DiDio was pretty lackluster. The rest of the stories in this are pretty standard ones done by the top names at DC that lack the punch to make this book the gem it should have been.

[Jdetrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its always hard to review a book with this many creators telling such different stories. Overall, this is a gorgeous package. With this many amazing writers involved, its surprising that none of the stories in this volume are particularly memorable...its the artwork that really carries the day. That being said, the stories aren't bad and the styles are widely variable, meaning there's something for almost everyone here.

[Pturingan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not all the stories were great but I'm giving this 5 stars anyway for the unique concept that they pulled off and for the all-around gorgeous art for almost all of the strips. Kinda wish DC would try this again in the future.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think they definitely accomplished what they set out to do. They all play to the format well and the art and colors are on point. Not every story landed for me but that's more to taste than anything else.

[Ron Sadowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read the original 12 issues serialization.

[Steven Morton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so glad I bought this in hardback.

[Benzini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic assortment of stories and art, in a great format

[Yonatan · Rating 3 out of 5]

still beautiful, but a bit soured over the years with the number of rapists and sexual harassers whose writing is in here.

[OMNIBUS GOD · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 average since it’s an anthology
But as a format it’s a 5/5!

[Tom Malinowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

For 12 consecutive weeks, DC released Wednesday Comics, a newspaper format featuring heroes such as Supergirl, Wonder Woman, The Flash, and more. Although comic books took over newspapers' telling of heroes, it's great to see a callback to the format, the formula, and the fun.