Written by: Robert Venditti
Art by: Tony Daniel
Published by: DC Comics
Damage #1 takes us on an uninspired stroll down a very familiar road of muscle-bound monsters and wanton destruction.
Ethan Avery is a solider and one of the United States military’s most powerful weapons. A weapon so strong that for one hour a day, when unleashed upon its target, leaves nothing but terror and devastation in its wake. After transforming into the hulking, rage filled monster known as Damage, he breaks free from his restraints, and his hour of terror begins above the skies of Atlanta. Damage punches through the cargo plane transporting Ethan and plummets down into the streets of the city as he tries to escape his creators. Feels a bit familiar, eh?
Change some of the events around and you’ve got yourself “The Hulk.” I’m not normally one to point this sort of thing out as carbon-copy characters have a been a thing since time immemorial, but “Damage” is a little on the nose here. You have a man who has been turned into a rampaging monster and is being chased by the government, with the lead being a gender swapped “General Ross”. In this case it’s a Colonel, but I digress, eet is the same.
There isn’t really much story at all honestly, and it’s incredibly easy to follow along. You could take out the dialogue and the art alone would carry you through, and thankfully the art is good for the most part. There’s a lot of focus on the action and characters but not much else. Most of the backgrounds are blurred or simply rumble due to the action at hand, and it doesn’t feel like a lot of effort was put towards them, but outside of that, the art is solid otherwise.
As it stands, if you’re a DC fan and you want a story akin to that of the Hulk, then Damage #1 is right up your alley. It’s full of non-stop action and wanton destruction. You may be intrigued to learn how Ethan became Damage and stick with it, but the first issue lacks any meat to hook the readers, and it’s an all too familiar road we’ve been down before. A guy becomes a monster, destroys some stuff, fights the government, and inevitably gets away. Until the next issue that is when Ethan’s time runs out and the hour of Damage is upon him anyway.
