DNAgents Volume 1: Born Orphans

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Some are born to be heroes, and some are trained to be heroes, but not the DNAgents. No, they were manufactured. Matrix Incorporated brewed them in a laboratory to be super soldiers without souls. But nobody told them that. This is the first of a series of volumes chronicling the adventures of Surge, Tank, Rainbow, Amber, and Sham, five superheroes in teenage bodies venturing out into the world for the first time. They're well designed to handle the bad guys, but now they also have to handle life.

Customer Reviews:

2 out of 5 stars

disappointingly reduced size artwork August 18, 2005
1 out of 2 found this review helpful

I remember enjoying DNAgents when it was coming out as a
(monthly?) comic. So, I thought I'd enjoy the compilation book.

I was wrong.

The book is a bit bigger than an ordinary paperback, reducing
the artwork significantly. Also, the color covers are lost.

I'm a big fan of Mark Evanier's work ... but I can't recommend
this book. Check out "Fanboy" instead, or any of his
POV books.

3 out of 5 stars

"Somewhere out there, there's someone who won't treat us like a piece of property." August 9, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Three and a half stars for this one, actually.

So I've got a soft spot for the underdog, independent comic books which came out in the 1980s. DNAgents happens to be one of the earlier titles, having debuted in 1983 under the Eclipse Comics banner. The concepts behind the DNAgents (human cloning, genetic manipulation, evil corporations) might seem a bit tired and hand-me-down nowadays, but, back then, these were fairly fresh and thought-provoking ideas in comics.

The DNAgents (not DNA Agents, by the way) are five superpowered synthetic humans created by the sinister Matrix Corporation to act as its dirty works field agents. Lucius Krell is the billionaire industrialist who ramrods Matrix Corporation. When his daughter is kidnapped, he opts to mobilize the DNAgents, prematurely releasing them from their artificial wombs. Five years in gestation but having gained sentience only in the last four weeks, these new "humans" emerge in teenaged bodies, and boasting the equivalent maturity level. They are promptly deployed into action.

Krell's early activation of the DNAgents would have far reaching repercussions and would provide the crux of the series. The early emergence foils the Matrix Corporation's puppet programming, resulting in superpowered employees who demonstrate not only confusion, doubt and angst but, most dangerously to the Corporation, free will. When Krell and his company prove to be cooly uncaring and bullying entities, it isn't long before the five kids begin to rebel and question their place in things. Or as Surge once mused: "Somewhere out there, there's someone who won't treat us like a piece of property." The kids' quest for meaning and identity is further complicated when they are enrolled to Beechgrove University. For us, though, it's comic book gold as we see these uncertain teens strive to fit in, even as they attempt to conduct their heroics on the sly.

The DNAgents comic book was popular enough in its heyday that it even generated a crossover (of sorts) with DC Comics' then very high-profiled Teen Titans. Part of the DNAgents' popularity stemmed from Mark Evanier's writing, which smartly combined blazing superheroics with solid human drama. The DNAgents' plight as they raged against a dehumanizing corporation rendered them as underdog and very rootable characters. I remember that the only one I really couldn't get into was the electricity wielding Surge, who was headstrong and impulsive and (in my opinion) really unlikeable. For what it's worth, Evanier did give Surge the darkest and most intriguing personal arc. Surge was assigned a bodyguarding mission on campus, a task at which he drastically failed. This would cause the vengeance-minded Surge to go off on his own and commit to acts beyond the boundaries of the superhero credo. Interesting stuff, but I still didn't dig him.

Meanwhile, co-creator and artist Will Meugniot would only stick around for a year and a half, but his detailed craftsmanship would leave a fine, fine mark.

DNAgents would have a run of two series (DNAgents #1-24 and New DNAgents #1-17), a 3D Special, and a couple of limited series (SURGE and CROSSFIRE & RAINBOW). DNAgents: Born Orphans is a black & white, digest-sized trade paperback which collects the first six issues of the original run. In here, we'll crack open the origin of the DNAgents. We'll meet Surge, the super-strong Tank (because there's always a super-strong member in these things), the sexy telepath and illusionist Rainbow, the naive girl-next-door Amber (except that this naive girl-next-door manifests electromagnetic powers), and the very, very insecure shapeshifter Sham.

Evanier introduces us to the first incarnation of Crossfire, which isn't that big of a deal. Rather it's the second Crossfire (bailbondsman Jay Endicott, who doesn't show up in this trade) who would turn heads and who would become my favorite character in this DNAgent universe. Jay Endicott would eventually be awarded his own series (Crossfire Volume 1: Hollywood Hero), with terrific artwork by Dan Spiegle (look into this one). Other things that happen: Surge falls in love; Tank is curious about the opposite sex (and makes some headway); Amber is friendly and eager to fit in in college; Sham is a pitiful cat, his lack of self-esteem forcing him to constantly question his place on the team even if being with the team is what makes him feel most at ease. Rainbow, well, she's hot. We'll have to wait until later issues before her story really gets interesting (when she finally meets Jay Endicott).

Villains? Kidnapping and assassination are recurring themes, as the DNAgents go up against a mechanical colossus and, later, a leader of a foreign nation, who calls himself the Commander, sports an enhanced armor and who decides to throw in his two cents concerning the synthetic nature of clones. And, of course, there's Surge's dark obsession with hunting down the assassin, which would drag in the rest of his teammates. And let's not forget Lucius Krell and his nefarious Matrix Corporation. Dude's a dirtbag.

The DNAgents' story ended in 1987, when Mark Evanier finally got bored. Maybe, someday, he'll pick up where he left off. After all, if I remember it right, he left his guys stuck in cryogenic suspension. But for now, there's been this trade to tide the fans over. Gotta say, though, that while I'm thankful for DNAgents: Born Orphans and I do understand that About Comics, which published it, was (is?) a small publishing company, I'm not too down with the digest size and the black and white reprinting. Having seen Meugniot's original stuff in color, I feel a bit cheated (although, don't get me wrong, the artwork still looks great; but it's not the same). I was thinking of handing out a four star rating to Born Orphans, but then I found out about DNAgents Industrial Strength Edition, which is bigger and better than Born Orphans. If I were you, I'd hold out for this mammoth omnibus trade, which collects the series's entire initial 24-issued run. Yes, this one is also in black and white, but, dang, there's at least so much more of it. Born Orphans does come with five bonus pages, each devoted to an illustration of and a brief 411 on a DNAgent. However, I expect the Industrial Strength Edition to have much more in the way of bonus stuff.

Lastly, I have to bring up John Byrne's Next Men, which echoes many of the themes in DNAgents. This isn't to put down Next Men, which is pretty darn amazing but is predated almost a decade by Mark Evanier's bunch of superteens. I'm just sayin', if you like DNAgents, then definitely invest some time in the Next Men (although, I have to warn you that that series ends rather abruptly).

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