Team 7 is DC’s latest re-invention of a Wildstorm concept and may actually have the best shot at actually succeeding in the New 52, as it is populated with several established DC headliners.  Set five years in the past, John Lynch (from ‘Gen 13’) briefs some shadowy government types on the need for the US to create a task force to possibly intervene in matters pertaining to the suddenly burgeoning super being population.  Lynch reestablishes the concept of the Metagene, originally posited by DC in the 80s miniseries ‘Invasion’ as a means to explain exactly how seemingly-ordinary humans develop super powers.  (The term technically doesn’t apply to Superman or any other alien beings whose powers are part of their nature or supernatural beings from Wonder Woman to John Constantine and so forth.)

The first recruits to Team 7 are Dinah Drake (currently Black Canary in the ‘Birds of Prey’) and Kurt Lance, revealed to eventually be her husband, whom she killed.  The pair recruit the rest of the team, many of whom I believe are new characters, but readers should immediately recognize Grifter, Deathstroke the Terminator, Amanda Waller (although technically she is a tad unrecognizable, not resembling “The Wall” of the old universe) as well as Alex Fairchild, the father of Caitlin Fairchild, who is currently appearing in ‘Superboy.’ One person missing is Steve Trevor, the goverment’s liasson to the Justice League and Wonder Woman’s principle love interest, who has been announced as a member of this team, but doesn’t appear in this issue.

Of course today, Dinah Lance has developed super sonic abilities and leads the Birds of Prey.  Deathstroke and Grifter are solo operatives starring in their own titles and Amanda Waller is a high ranking government official.  Who are these other members and where will their paths leads?  This series will presumably fill all that in.  I assume this book will continue to be set in the past, and detail the “real world’s” reaction to the growing presence of super beings.

This issue handily introduces these characters, while still giving some action as they work together to diffuse a terrorist threat.  The new characters aren’t fully fleshed out but they are given interesting angles that will surely come into play as the series progresses.  The art is good.  It’s not my favorite, but it’s probably just a matter of taste, so I won’t fault it for that.  It does have a slight Wildstorm feel, so it really does work well for this book.

All in all, a solid debut.  It was a lot more interesting to me than ‘Blackhawks.’  It wasn’t compelling enough for me to keep reading this title, but that’s just because I tend to prefer more out-and-out super heroics to military/espionage books.  But if that is your cup of tea, this was a worthwhile effort.

 

TEAM 7 #0
Written by Justin Jordan
Art by Jesus Merino with Norm Rapmundo and Rob Hunter
Cover by Ken Lashley with Nathan Eyring