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Art
Speaking of the art: if you ask me (and someone did, since I’m doing these reviews), the art on this comic is about damn perfect.
This is Bryan Hitch at his best, and he’s never better than when being inked by Paul Neary and colored by Laura Martin. Hitch suffered from comparisons to Alan Davis (who was also frequently inked by Paul Neary) through much of his early career, and he’s out from under that here. He’s also not gone as deep into the photorealistic style that characterized his work on The Ultimates (and later). It’s a little bit looser and more free, and it feels like he’s having fun with it.
Paul Neary’s inks are great as always – not too much, not too little. Laura Depuy (now Laura Martin) is probably the best colorist in modern comics, and she shines here as well.
Availability
You can still track down the individual issues at many comic book stores and on eBay: #1-12 of volume 1. There are also several trade collections: The Authority: Relentless TPB and The Authority: Under New Management TPB collect issues #1-8 and #9-16, respectively. There’s also the oversized Absolute Authority v.1 – the first of the Absolute Editions, incidentally – but it’s long out of print and you can expect to pay through the nose for it on the secondary market. The easiest option, however, is probably to get the Authority v.1 hardcover that’s coming out in May for $29.99 USD (retail).
Quality will vary between versions, obviously – the Absolute edition is several inches larger than the standard TPB reprints, so you get bigger pictures.
This is not an all-ages comic book – there’s a great deal of graphic violence, partial nudity, drug use is implied at one point, and rape is discussed in dialogue.
