Hardware Season One #1

Hardware Season One #1

DC Comics/Milestone 2021

Written by Brandon Thomas

Pencilled by Denys Cowan

Inked by Bill Sienkiewicz

Coloured by Chris Sotomayor

Lettered by Rob Leigh

Curtis Metcalf was the brightest shining star of Alva Industries, a brilliant scientist mentored by Edwin Alva since childhood…until the failures of Alva technology at the “Big Bang” disaster threatened to destroy the company, and Alva needed a scapegoat. Now Curtis is on the run from the Dakota police department…but a man as smart-and paranoid-as Curtis takes precautions. With a nearly indestructible suit of armor and remarkable inventions that he never handed over to Alva, Curtis stands determined to do much more than clear his name…he’s going to take the fight back to Alva himself!

Because I work with DC I make it a point to read the first issues of what they are currently putting out and with all the hullabaloo that surrounds Milestone I knew I wanted to at least check this one out. Then I saw that Cowan & Sienkiewicz were involved and I KNEW I had to read it. I love how this issue opens up with the story of Curtis’ life as it gives us background information on the man who has such a profound impact on Virgil Hawkins, Static. It’s incredibly well done and made me want to read further.

I am absolutely thrilled with the way that this is being told. The story & plot development we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development we see through the narration, dialogue, character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter do a magnificent job in fleshing the characters out as people we find familiar. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages introducing us to the story, the characters and this world we’re left fully engaged and invested in what’s happening.

I greatly appreciate the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story emerge and grow. How we see Curtis act and react and some of the dialogue he uses is so interesting to me. The characterisation, the plot twists and so forth all add this great depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is achieved exceedingly well.

The interiors here are mindboggllingly brilliant. The linework is exquisite and then the inking on top of that with the colour work as well make the complete package come to life with such grace and power. That we see backgrounds utilised as we do throughout the book and how they work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is truly remarkable. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a masters eye for storytelling. The colour work is equally as brilliant to behold. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work also show a master colourist in action. The creativity and imagination that brings this all to us is stunning to me.

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In a lot of ways this is what I would imagine the Wildstorm Universe’s answer to Iron Man is. It has the aesthetic of the Wildstorm Universe while the smarts, suit and weaponry of Iron Man and that to me is brilliant and more so this Curtis isn’t as full of himself or aloof as anyone else in this kind of kit. I think the writing and characterisation are masterfly written and the interiors are just bloody brilliant to see making this the Milestone debut we’ve been waiting for. These folks have done an amazing job in bringing Curtis’ to life, showcasing his backgrounds and events leading up to his being framed only leaving the guilty part as a no-show so that we’re hooked on the mystery and will come back to find out who it really is.