Comic book review: C.O.W.L. #4- Before our jobs were ‘outsourced’ to Chinese slave factories

Writers- Kyle Higgins and Alec Siegel
Artists: Rod Reis and Stephane Perger
Publisher: Image Comics
Released: 27th August 2014


This issue of COWL is the penultimate issue before the end of the first arc, so what it’s doing is setting up a few pins before issue #5 knocks them all down. There are quite a few pins, and if you start reading the book at this issue you’ll just be hopelessly confused by it all. This book isn’t exactly simple anyway, and I always take my time with it because everything is so subtle and the characters are constantly lying to each other. You don’t know who, or what to believe, and there are quite a few characters in the book as well, so unless you take your time with it, this book can be frustratingly difficult to decipher. I’m okay with that as I’m cutting back on the stupid Marvel and DC superhero books that I buy on a weekly basis and I have the spare reading time to take it slowly with this one, and re-read the pages that initially confused. It’s enjoyable, but it does take some patience and concentration.

The basic story here is that superheroes are on strike and as is usual with strike situations their bosses are looking to bring in replacements. Some of the striking superheroes are starting to question their union boss, and probably thinking about going free-lance, for the same selfish reasons that exist in the real world, because it will be the best for them as individuals.

There’s some investigation going on as well involving COWL weapons going to villains, and that’s probably the most interesting part of the story to somebody like myself, because it suggests that the leaders of COWL might be creating their own enemy in order to justify their existence. This brings to mind how the FBI creates ‘terrorists’ by giving them fake bombs. It also brings to mind how the US and EU have been giving military support and weapons to Al Qaeda in Syria (now known as ISIS) in order to justify invading Syria in order to stop the very people they have created.

The other three plot-lines in this issue involve a disenfranchised second in command, a psychopathic pervert who is tolerated because he is useful, and a superhero doing a bit of work on the side whilst the strike goes on because she is a girl-scout type who just waits to take down the bad guys. If it sounds like there’s a lot going on here then it’s because there is. It might be packing a bit too much into the mix for some, but it’s okay with me, as I mentioned before I have the time and so I’m reading this one slowly, very slowly.

The book ends with things kicking off, as it should do in this issue, and we’re guaranteed some riotous action in next month’s end of arc instalment. It’s all set in 1962, which I don’t like, because it’s 2014 now and I don’t see any reason why comic book writers can’t be brave and deal with contemporary issue and concerns that are happening in the world right now. I lived through a period in the UK when unions had power. They thought the law, and the law won. We have been living with the legacy of that loss ever since. In 2014 unions have been decimated, and workers rights are not what they used to be. We are now living in an era of zero hours contracts, a form of slavery that would have been impossible for employers to get away with during the 1960's and 1970's when they still had some power. What is this book going to say? That unions were destroyed by globalism? That as soon as the jobs were ‘outsourced’ to China and the politicians no longer needed to keep workers on side it was all over for them? Why say that? We already know that, and putting superheroes into it doesn’t change anything.

If you want to talk about unions why not set it in 2014 where they are struggling to get their voices heard against politicians that no longer need to listen to them? That would be really interesting and relevant to the lives of the readers as well. This is an interesting book, but it’s out of date. The art is great, and the characters are very recognisably human and realistic, but it’s a book about workers rights set in an era before most of the readers were even born.

I go back to the point I previously made. What is it going to teach us? That we no longer have any power, that the strength of the unions were destroyed and we have become socialised, collectivised slaves to big government, a big government owned and controlled by the banks and corporations that helped destroy the unions by shipping the work over to China? Don’t tell us what we already know. Tell us what we can do to change the situation as it is today.

I like this book, it’s a good book, but it’s superheroes, strikes and the 1960’s. It’s good, but it’s old, and no matter how clever they are with the plot and the characters it will only reflect what happened decades ago, what we already know happened, not what is happening today and what needs to be done to change things. History is great, but I don’t need to be reminded that the workers were defeated over fifty years ago. I already know that. I’m living with that legacy today.

Rating: 7.5/10