Villains often do not mince and stick around to achieve their goal. What if superheroes act the same way? The answer is the groundbreaking Authority comic from Warren Ellis.
Authority is a comic book created by Warren Ellis and, as the description on the back cover of Egmont tells us, it is a bestseller that is considered to be one of the most groundbreaking books in the history of modern comics. The title group is a collection of expressive heroes who are not afraid of the enemy's numbers or the clash with forces sent from an alternative world. By protecting their Earth, they will be just as ruthless and ruthless with others to achieve the goal of protecting humanity.
The first story is the clash of the heroes with an international terrorist, which is an interesting introduction for the new reader. In turn, subsequent threats seem to significantly outweigh the scale of one maniac and thousands of his cloned henchmen. For the Authority team, however, it is a normal day at the office, so even fighting a foreign body close to God is one of the next challenges for them.
Undoubtedly, we are dealing with a cult position and, in a way, a pioneering one, because even if it was not Ellis who first departed from numerous rules governing the convention, it was he who did it in a clearly strong style and broke through to the mainstream. For here heroes with superhuman abilities are convinced of their moral superiority not only over the citizens, but also over the rulers. One of them is able to rise into the air and with the strength of the sun-charged muscles destroy the entire fleet alone. Why would this man listen to anyone?
Ellis posed some important questions, and although we do not receive answers to all of them in the first volume, their very task in the late 1990s was groundbreaking. The author made (or significantly contributed to it) that superheroes ceased to be perceived only as model characters without shades of gray. The reception of the comic was probably what the author could count on at the time. His work caused controversy because he told about the leotards in a brutal, courageous and mature way. In addition, he did not forget the essence of the genre for a moment, creating spectacular and action-packed stories. Authority is still a strong position, in which the aspect of breaking the shackles of the adopted rules and proposing a spectacular, epic story with heroes who set the rules themselves stands out.
The outlined moral superiority of Authority is intriguing and attractive, because what is different always arouses our curiosity. Satirically, but at times even too subtle, Ellis approaches the chosen convention. The characters of Apollo and Midnighter, who are an obvious match of Superman and Batman and their relationship, should be assessed as a definite plus. However, it was possible to create not only an ironic comment, but also to create an image of a much more interesting interaction, because it was openly homosexual and extremely romantic in the world of knitwear and global catastrophes.
At the same time, Ellis manages to create a story that, despite its more mature tone, is not too complicated and does not particularly turn off readers with little experience in superhero comics. Ellis has created a work unique in its time, but the master can and should be criticized. Authority holds up despite the test of time, but not all chapters are created equal. In the second story of The Jumpers, chaos sets in and Ellis gets too carried away by fantasy by deviating from the tone suggested at the beginning. Ultimately, this arc also emphasizes with a strong stake, because there is a threat that the world as we know it will cease to exist and turn into a rape camp. The subject matter is distinguished by the comic, but the characters' approach to the events taking place in this world is even more important here.
The whole is complemented by brilliant drawings by Bryan Hitch. The use of techniques unusual for those times allows the comic to have a cinematic dimension. The drawings also perfectly reflect the atmosphere of the story, which seems to be neutral in terms of convention - it's not too dark here, but we don't have uniformed boys here either. Authority was released as part of DC deluxe and will appear in collective volumes. The content of the first volume includes numerous concept sketches and a large fragment of Ellis's script, which will be a real treat for comic book fans. The whole thing was of course released in a hardcover and it is undoubtedly a binding worthy of this position.
Authority, from today's perspective, is an important comic book due to some breaking of the rules governing comics. Maybe not so shocking anymore, but the screenwriter deserves respect for his courageous move and proposing an epic story at the same time.
