-
Icon vs. Hardware #1
- Writer:
- Reginald Hudlin, Leon Chills
- Artist:
- Denys Cowan
- Letterer:
- AndWorld Design
- Cover Artist:
- Rahzzah
- Publisher:
- DC
- Price:
- $4.99
- Release Date:
- 2023-02-14
- Colorist:
- Christopher Sotomayor
Icon and Hardware are the two cornerstones of DC and Milestone Comics' Dakotaverse, each having a unique set of powers and motivations. Masquerading as a human, Icon is an alien biding his time on Earth when a fateful meeting with Rocket helps him change his mind and try his hand at vigilantism. Around the same time, genius inventor Curtis Metcalf is wrongfully turned into a scapegoat by his employer, forcing him to come up with a superhuman armor to clear his name while taking up a new one -- Hardware. Now, the two clash in an epic event written by Reginald Hudlin and Leon Chills, with artwork from Denys Cowan, Yasmín Flores Montañez, John Floyd, Jon Stanisci and Christopher Sotomayor, and letters from AndWorld Design.
Icon vs. Hardware #1, as it's called, is a direct follow-up of Hardware: Season One. Curt gets to work, digging deep to find some dirt on the superhero Icon. He comes across something more intriguing than he expected, as he quickly discovers that Icon is an alien, and that the spaceship that brought him to Earth is currently stowed away in Washington, D.C. Before he can make that trip, Alva Industries sends a welcome gift in the form of a missile in a bid to take Hardware out for good. Meanwhile, Icon has sent Rocket to a fancy boarding school for girls in Switzerland to learn more about the influential class, seeing her as a future world leader.
The name, Icon vs. Hardware, already gives away the premise of the series and the main characters involved. Surprisingly, the whole book is a one-man show of Hardware trying to find Icon's secret origins. In an ironic turn of events, ends up revisiting his own childhood. Hudlin and Chills introduce exposition masterfully into a compact narrative, using it both as a character motivation and also as a plot point, painting the scientist as a broken man so obsessed with changing the past that he has stopped caring about the consequences. Meanwhile, Icon takes a step back and enjoys his love life. Moving away from the edgy, superfluous actions of Hardware, Rocket's segments are steeped in teen drama. While she is no stranger to discrimination, the new environment gives her a healthy challenge.
Denys Cowan's illustrations are a gritty reminder of the old-school art style of the '80s, with stocky, intricate character designs ready to throw punches at the readers themselves. John Stanisci's inking helps in that regard, with the unhinged lines darkening around the corner of the eyes to make Hardware more than just a man or machine. Yasmín Flores Montañez's artwork is softer, which goes well with the posh look of the boarding academy and makes it look innocent enough from the outside. Christopher Sotomayor does an excellent job of switching between aesthetics. His colors leave ample space for the inkers to work with while filling the negative space with softer tones to make the characters pop. The letterer, AndWorld Design, gives Hardware's narration boxes a red outline with a black in-fill, making his thoughts more pronounced in an issue where dialogues form the backbone of the exposition.
Icon vs. Hardware #1 is already building excitement with this issue, bringing the momentous occasion closer to realization. What's more concerning is Hardware's descent, although it is not hard to understand the reasoning behind his decisions, considering the trauma left over by his solitary childhood.
As Curt remains entrapped in the past, Icon moves forward unbridled through tomorrow, creating parallels to DC's other World's Finest. Icon vs. Hardware #1 is off to a promising start, giving a cliché old formula an updated feel.