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colindalaska's review against another edition
3.0
Utterly, baffling illogical story of nine cancelled comic heroes trying to save themselves from being retconned.
Saved by very nice artwork, and a killer final panel.
Saved by very nice artwork, and a killer final panel.
scheu's review against another edition
5.0
Funny and heartwarming. Not only did the story remind me why I love comics, but it was an interesting commentary on modern superhero comics as well. Hoping for a sequel someday.
grimondgalgmod's review against another edition
3.0
Maybe the one book by Azzarello I sort of enjoy? And that's due mostly to the appearance of an obvious Grant Morrison in a Batman Halloween mask near the end.
devinr's review against another edition
5.0
Update May 2018: This book gets better every time I read it.
kristennd's review against another edition
5.0
This was a ridiculously fun story. Especially compared to most of what DC is churning out these days. Like, say, the Spectre mini to which it was backup. Or the major crossover universe shattering events at which it takes aim. I also have a thing for books starring minor characters. And Cliff Chiang's art, of course. As with Human Target, he really enhanced the story.
librarimans's review against another edition
4.0
A fun comic about comics (similar to Flex Mentallo or Watchmen), the entire story breaks the Fourth Wall as a handful of forgotten characters battle the "Architects" (Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, and Mark Waid) to stay relevant and not be erased from the universe.
rickklaw's review
5.0
An intriguing piece of metafiction, Doctor 13: Architecture & Mortality restores some of the fun in the DC universe. Using Doctor Thirteen, the world's foremost skeptic who denies that anything supernatural or unexplainable exists, as the centerpiece of a quasi-team of truly forgotten and often forgettable DC characters, Brian Azzarello scripts a surprisingly amusing and insightful treatise into the world of contemporary comics. Genius Jones (created by Alfred Bester!), I...Vampire, Anthro, the Primate Patrol (a team of intelligent Nazi gorillas!), Infectious Lass (of Legion of Substitute Heroes fame), the ghost of 19th-century Confederate general J.E.B. Stuart (from The Haunted Tank) and Thirteen's magic-wielding daughter Traci join Thirteen as he challenges the mysterious Architects--the shapers of the universe--, who wish to retcon him and the others out of existence. Azzarello employs no subtlety or diversion here as events unfold quickly.
J.E.B. Stuart: Who are The Architects?
Genius Jones: The ones who decide who's who and who isn't. The are the official guides to the universe. When it was decided that the one fashioned by The Architects that preceded them didn't make cents they knocked the old one down and built a new one. This is the fourth time it's happened-- in this universe.
Traci Thirteen: "This universe?"
Genius Jones: There's another universe that these Architects are at war with. One that reinvents itself every summer-- So "things will never be the same again," it claims.
Artist Cliff Chiang's clean lines and emoting faces further enhance the story. Chang clearly had fun here. What artist would not when drawing yetis, pirates, and apes? I'd have fun and I can't draw a lick.
J.E.B. Stuart: Who are The Architects?
Genius Jones: The ones who decide who's who and who isn't. The are the official guides to the universe. When it was decided that the one fashioned by The Architects that preceded them didn't make cents they knocked the old one down and built a new one. This is the fourth time it's happened-- in this universe.
Traci Thirteen: "This universe?"
Genius Jones: There's another universe that these Architects are at war with. One that reinvents itself every summer-- So "things will never be the same again," it claims.
Artist Cliff Chiang's clean lines and emoting faces further enhance the story. Chang clearly had fun here. What artist would not when drawing yetis, pirates, and apes? I'd have fun and I can't draw a lick.
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