If the melding of the innocent campy virtues of Adam West era Batman with the Chris Nolan sluggathon of Dark Knight triggers you then chances are you’re not going to enjoy one iota of what I’m about to delve into. In fact, if Adi Shankar’s Guardians of Justice rubs your love muscle the right way then read on as it has way more in common with The Wrong Earth than the dull and overworked rotting corpse of Batman and his contemporaries.
The Details
- Written by Tom Peyer
- Art by Greg Scott
- Cover art by Jamal Igle
- Cover price: $4.99
- Release date: July 27, 2022
- Publisher: Ahoy Comics
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The Wrong Earth: Meat – Ahoy Comics
Written by Tom Peyer and with art by Greg Scott, The Wrong Earth: Meat is the latest entry into the Ahoy Comics’ The Wrong Earth universe. A universe centering on the misdeeds of Dragonflyman (your Batman of this universe) and Stinger (your Robin). The result is a bitter, angry Dragonfly who takes to ridding the world of crooks at all levels. Even the facets representing Law and Order who would see them back on the street in no time at all.
The Wrong Earth: Meat introduces us to two characters on the wrong side of the law who are taking shelter in an abattoir about one of them has mistakenly killed a police officer. Only for the abusive alpha of the pair waylaid by Dragonfly and left for dead while Dragonfly sits down and tells him the story of Stinger. A tale told in deep regret by a now murderous older superhero.
Tom Peyer does an exceptional job in weaving the different scenes and time jumps together from the perspective of a now veteran Dragonfly. The voice of Peyer’s character is a remorseful vengeful force who feels the full weight of his conviction: to dispense justice no matter the cost.
Although the story, “Meat,” starts off in an abattoir where the two criminals on the run take shelter, Peyer then takes back in time where Dragonfly and Stinger are being held in an abattoir (probably the same one) by a very moustache twirly madman (Doctor Meat) who has a fetish for cooking our heroes in a vat of boiling meat. Thanks to the quick thinking of Dragonfly they manage to escape their captors and avoid being boiled alive but not before the scene transitions to an old Dragonfly exchanging drinks with the exchanged crim.
Dragonflyman sees Stinger in the eyes of this younger criminal and begins to tell the story of a younger Stinger, how he was weaponised to aid Dragonflyman on his crusade and how he eventually meets his end – in a familiar display of brooding sentimental Batman-isms. What follows the rest of this issue is a descent into the deep regret of the superhero archetype by his own arbitrary bullshit morals. Reinforced by the eventual conclusion that Dragonflyman lets the young criminal go, seeing the policeman he killed as no real loss, as “I was probably going to kill him any way.”
Greg Scott’s artwork takes us into a darker time of the character, Dragonflyman, and manages to capture the cringeworthy campy 60s era superhero schtick whilst still capturing the innate grit of a city festering with crime. A world broken. A metaphor to Dragonflyman’s own broken sense of duty with the loss of his kid-sidekick. Thanks to colorist, Andy Troy, There’s a sense of moral bankruptcy and decay throughout the The Wrong Earth: Meat and it’s felt in every panel. While the lettering by Rob Steen doesn’t overtake or overpower the already impactful scenes throughout this one-shot. Steen smartly observes the language in Peyer’s script. A sense which gives us the feel of a retro 1960s comic book.
The Wrong Earth: Meat is an interesting one-shot on the superhero experience. Whilst it doesn’t focus on the Doctor Meat character so much, it does concentrate on the surroundings of: The Meat Factory. All the major plot points are told from within that structure and the Stinger narrative gives us rise to question: “Is everyone in this world just another piece of meat for Dragonflyman to exploit in his sacred quest for justice?” I’m exaggerating, of course, but it’s an interesting metaphor executed exceptionally well by Tom Peyer, Greg Scott, Andy Troy and Rob Steen.
The Wrong Earth: Meat goes on sale July 27, 2022.
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