The Authority: Runs the USA
Author: Ed Brubaker & Dustin Nguyen
Publisher: DC Comics
Publishing Date: 2019
Pgs: 328 pages
Dewey: 741.5973 BRU
Disposition: Irving Public Library - South Campus - Irving, TX
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REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Summary:
The Authority has beaten invincible foes and insurmountable odds time and time again. Now they are taking over the United States government! When Paul Revere and the Sons of Liberty push back and incite the American populace into rebellion against their new rulers, can the Authority survive internal struggles long enough to maintain control without inciting a calamitous end to America as we know it? Will Washington, D.C., be left standing?
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Genre:
DC Comics
Graphic Novels
Trade Paperbacks
Superhero
Politics

Why this book:
Loved Stormwatch. The Authority is okay. But since I can’t get Stormwatch, I’ll take their little brother.
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Least Favorite Character:
Bendix is always a least favorite character.

Tropes:
The time travel aspect pitting Midnighter, secretly, against the rest of the Authority with a Freedom Fighters-pastiche thrown in is pretty cool. My thought is what if that wasn't Apollo in the future or if he's nuts and he's put Midnighter on a mission to ensure his future comes to pass. And I was both right and wrong. Nice.

All the stuff that Midnighter was tracking down while the team was broken up seems like stuff that Bendix would want to be stopped. A destroyed world wouldn't be worth ruling, after all. Course with the reveal later in the book, this makes sense too.

Hmm Moments:
Two obvious candidates for cloaked mystery villain, Bendix and/or future, time-traveling, evil Midnighter that future Apollo warned current Midnighter about. Hopefully, it's not obvious.

So...suspicious of the Doctor's confidant in The Garden of Ancestral Memory. The Garden reminds me of the Parliament of Trees from Swamp Thing. Never considered Swamp Thing as the Doctor's analog in the mainstream DCU, but it sorta fits

WTF Moments:
Rose Tattoo is well done with her Kiss of Death/Touch of Death. What she did to Doctor Jeroen...damn...just damn. A black tar bj...Brubaker is channeling Ellis strongly, could totally see that from the latter, surprised at it from the former.

The Sigh:
Of course, that's who the villain in the shadows is. Of course. Wonder if he's the future someone who Midnighter saw who set him off down the path that he helped put the team on.

Wisdom:
Why would you take the Swiss Army Knife character over the Overpowered? That's why. Cause at some point, Overpowered is just power, Swiss Army Knife is finesse. Unless Overpowered is going to kill and destroy, he's going to leave plenty of opportunities for SAK to take him down, in multiple ways.

Missed Opportunity:
The Authority vs The Evolutionaries, good fight, but they were pretty quick to move beyond it, the Authority vs Bendix, omnipotent, but doesn't finish the job, the Authority vs Midnighter, knows all your moves and how to counter them before you make them. But Rose Tattoo basically disappears. Seems like the Spirit of Murder would be front and center in a showdown like this.

And the Freedom Fighters pastiche were shuffled off fairly quickly for as powerful as they were built up as being.
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Pacing:
The book picks up a lot when the feint is revealed.

Last Page Sound:
I liked it.

Conclusions I’ve Drawn:
Status quo and the characters commenting on the return to status quo. I know almost every comic book story does this. But considering that Bendix's corporate control of the world would still exist after his death and defeat, they haven't saved anything. If anything, that goes status quo as well, back to the world the way it was before the Authority took over.
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