Some thoughts about Batman/Superman: Authority Special #1

What is threatening the Multiverse now?

Superman's new team have just began their mission, especially now that Batman joins their ranks to warn them about an organization that is connected to the Dark Multiverse.

Yeah, I missed more solicitations so I didn't know that Grant Morrison's story was going to continue in some way. Phillip Kennedy Johnson is the one in charge here to follow Morrison's premise and while he does a fine enough job, there are some issues I have with it.

First off, this is clearly a direct continuation from Morrison's Superman & the Authority miniseries... in some parts at least. The problems I have with the continuity here is that Morrison's book clearly presented an older Superman while this one seems like a Clark in his prime years, even Batman doesn't look old at all despite that there are some references from other characters about how he looks older. I don't know if this is a mistake from the art team or something but is still a weird inconsistency.

Second, Morrison not being present means that we see less esoteric writing. This is not a problem per se since that style doesn't always translate into good material and Johnson is still a pretty solid writer but Morrison's personality became an important part about what I liked from the last miniseries. Another issue with this is that Johnson implements the overused Dark Multiverse which I wish was destroyed already since it was an ill-conceived and derivative premise right from the beginning.

Fortunately, Johnson realizes that in a way since he makes constant jokes about it. Morrison might not be present here but we still have some metacommentary about how the characters look different in the Dark Multiverse, referencing the different artstyles from each segment and I dig how Apollo and Midnighter make fun about how overrated Batman is because of that whole premise.

Speaking of which, the Empire of Shadows are fine antagonists in a more traditional sense and Johnson tries to get the best from this premise with appropriate characterization, adequate pacing and fine action scenes. Is a pretty acceptable job.

Trevor Hairsine, Jonathan Glapion, Scott Hanna and Raih Beredo handle the art and they all do a solid work during their respective segments and the different styles are justified here.

Decent read overall. Hope to see more unique takes about this team though.