Did you know that the Damage character was first introduced in 1994 which means he is coming up on his 25th anniversary? Think about that for a while, let it sink in. I do not know about you but it makes me feel old. O.L.D. I know comic book companies were introducing characters left and right during the early nineties as the comic book boom seemed like it would last forever. It was nearly impossible for readers to keep up on all of them but as Damage #1 reboots the characters I feel like I should know more about this character than I do, which is next to nothing.
So, going in with fresh eyes unburdened with the characters history I read the first issue and feel like DC finally has a Hulk character of its own. It is so similar in fact that if you colored the character green (or even Grey from the Mr. Fixit years) and changed the names I probably would have believed it was an original Hulk story.
The catch with this character is that Ethan “Elvis” Avery, former military member and government guinea pig does not turn into the Hulk Damage when he is angry but rather he turns into the unstoppable savage beast for one hour of every day, weekends included. Running from the military the first issue plops us right into the center of the action as Damage is rampaging and leaving a trail of destruction in his wake. There looks to be slight subliminal efforts by Ethan to try and control the beast but at the end of the issue his hour has ended and Ethan lays in the rubble human again but the clock already ticking to his next transformation.
Damage #1 was enjoyable enough but did not do much, beyond reminding me of the Hulk, to get me vested in the story. There is the military chasing its own creation, a jealous former friend of Ethan who repeatedly disobeys direct orders to try and take down Damage alone and a few other small plot points. It is alright and if you are anti-Marvel then I guess you have your rampaging monster title, to me it offered nothing really new or interesting for me to put it onto my pull list.
Damage #1
DC Comics – $2.99
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