THE OTHER HISTORY OF THE DC UNIVERSE

Behind the masks

RELEASED OUT NOW! Publisher Dc/black Label

Writer John Ridley

Artists Giussepi Camuncoli,

Andrea Cucchi

This five-issue miniseries looks at the long and peculiar history of the DC universe from the perspective of some of its more marginalised heroes. Penned by 12 Years A Slave screenwriter John Ridley, it unpicks the racial politics lurking beneath the lore.

Each issue focuses on a different narrator (in 1-3: Black Lightning; Mal and Karen Duncan, who share issue two; and Katana). It moves through different time periods too, starting in the ’70s. We see major events like Crisis On Infinite Earths and the death of Superman retold from the point of view of these relatively minor players, while gaining insight into their home lives and the day-to-day problems they face that the other – mostly white – heroes don’t.

Ridley has a superb grasp of his characters’ inner lives. Using lengthy first person captions, with no dialogue bubbles, his script examines the insidious nature of privilege and systemic bias, both within the story and in our own real world. It sounds heavy, but the book still has fun with the inherent lunacy of comics.

Likewise, Camuncoli and Cucchi’s art is superb: punchy, dynamic and full of character. Their playful use of layout intertwines beautifully with the text. Special mention should also go to José Villarrubia, whose use of colour perfectly evokes the look and feel of comics from the ’70s and ’80s. It’s a book which subverts nostalgia to make a serious point. Will Salmon

A few years ago Ridley was developing a (never made) show for Marvel, rumoured to have been Ms Marvel or The Eternals.

Examines the insidious nature of privilege and systemic bias