Every so often a original comic comes out and you immediately ask yourself “why has nobody ever thought of this before?”. C.O.W.L. is one of those comics. C.O.W.L stands for Chicago Organized Workers League, the world’s first Super-Hero Labor Union. The book takes place in the aforementioned Chicago in 1962. C.O.W.L is co-written by Kyle Higgins (Nightwing, Batman Beyond 2.0) and Alec Siegel with art from Rod Reis.

The 1960s were an interesting time in America for unions everywhere, taking place after the McClellan Committee but before the internal and external problems that crushed unions in the 1970s and 1980s. Communism was America’s #1 enemy, with many believing that they had infiltrated the unions and of course many unions were exploited or controlled by the mafia. So I find the decision to set the comic in the 1960s to be a fantastic decision.

Before we even jump into the story, I have to point out that I like the fact they included a character list with a small picture before the beginning of the comics. This is especially helpful for a large ensemble cast of characters that a book like C.O.W.L will seemingly have. I also really like the inclusion of a color coded map of the city. These are small but great touches that will make it easier for the reader.

C.O.W.L #1 opens with our heroes attempting to apprehend a villain known as Skylancer. Within the first couple of pages, we are greeted with the powers of their heroes and more importantly how they differ from some mainstream heroes. I really enjoy the inclusion of internal politics within the organization being included in this issue and how it looks to be a central theme of the story. Of course, there’s still a good amount of action contained within the issue.

Of course, the biggest villain for C.O.W.L. in this books looks to be one that has faced all unions in recent United States history, irrelevancy. Many unions ceased to exist because many felt there existence was unnecessary due to better working conditions in terms of safety and pay. Other unions ceased to exist because of corruption, graft, and other internal problems that broke it apart. C.O.W.L looks like it will deal with similar issues going forward.

Overall, I throughly enjoyed C.O.W.L #1. It served as a great introduction issue to the characters, setting, and gave the readers a great indication of what kind book it would be. I have found myself also throughly enjoying the art style and thought that Rod Reis did a particular strong job throughout. This book is definitely going to be on my pull list going forward and C.O.W.L #1 is out on stands now.

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