Just to get it out there, A.R.G.U.S. stands for “Advanced Research Group Uniting Superhumans.”
With most of the super heroes vanished and the Crime Syndicate and the Secret Society rapidly laying siege to the planet, it may fall on the shoulders of these non-powered operatives to serve as the resistance. Oh except someone is killing almost all of them off.
This book focuses on two of Wonder Woman’s classic supporting characters, Steve Trevor and to a slightly lesser degree Etta Candy. The story jumps around in time and actually shows the beginning of Wonder Woman’s origin as Trevor crashes on Paradise Island. We also learn how he escaped the Crime Syndicate when he was originally shown as being present when the Justice League was taken down by the Syndicate.
Writer Sterling Gates is always dependable. He fills in a lot of vital information from the past, in terms of A.R.G.U.S.’s formation, Trevor and Wonder Woman’s beginnings as well as some of what happened to the government agency since the Syndicate arrived.
There are three pencillers this issue, Philip Tan, Neil Edwards and Javier Pina. They all do a great job, but it makes things a little uneven. Whoever drew the one page splash of Wonder Woman ripping Steve’s jet’s top off did the best job, but like I said, there’s no bad art here. That Wonder Woman shot is just gorgeous though.
This was a satisfying read, but I guess I’m just not that interested in reading about the non-powered humans trying to fight back against a super villain uprising. There was nothing wrong with it, but I know I didn’t like ‘Team 7’ either and that also featured Trevor and his early team of spy-like operatives, which also included Deathstroke and pre-Black Canary Dinah Lance.
It was okay. It wasn’t my cup of tea, but the art is pretty good and the writing is also solid. There are some interesting developments, which I am interested to see play out. I’ll probably hang in for one more issue at least.
FOREVER EVIL: A.R.G.U.S. #1
Written by Sterling Gates
Pencils by Philip Tan, Neil Edwards and Javier Pina
Cover by Brett Booth, Mark Irwin and Andrew Dalhouse
