C.O.W.L. Volume 1: The Principles of Power

Picture this for a comic: Superheroes and labor negotiations in 1962 Chicago. The Chicago Organized Workers League was formed in the aftermath of World War II, when mobsters and villains overran Chicago. Now, with the last of the troublemaking Chicago Six wiped out, the future of C.O.W.L.'s contract, let alone C.O.W.L. itself, is less than certain. A comic about labor negotiations sounds like risky business, but Higgins (Nightwing) and company makes it work. Geoffrey Warner, one of the founders and the current head of C.O.W.L., marches through negotiations with Mayor Daley, and tries to keep a lid on the brewing troubles at C.O.W.L. Powerful and seedy, Warner and his approach to running C.O.W.L. is pitch perfect for the era of Robert Kennedy's Justice Department going after Jimmy Hoffa and organized crime. The unusual art looks more like paintings than comics, echoing early 60s advertisements. Warner's true face becomes much sharper when John Pierce, a detective at C.O.W.L., stumbles onto information that could destroy C.O.W.L.'s credibility permanently, opening the door to show not only what people are willing to do to win power, but what they are willing to do to keep it. (Nov.)