Dragonflyman and Dragonfly are back! One of AHOY’s most acclaimed series, The Wrong Earth, returns for five issues following last year’s two-parter We Could Be Heroes that celebrated the series fifth year anniversary. This time in Dead Ringers, Dragonflyman and Stinger are finally back on their campy Earth-Alpha. Unfortunately, the gritty Dragonfly and Stinger II from Earth-Omega are stuck there with them. Will they manage to coexist? Especially when both Dragonflyman and Dragonfly aim to share the same alter ego?
It’s a testament to just how good of a concept The Wrong Earth has that it’s lasted as long as it has. AHOY have released plenty books over their short history yet few series get multiple sequels quite like this one. Given how strong Dead Ringers starts, one would assume the series will keep on continuing.
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The issue opens with a recap of the series so far told by The Reader, this universe’s parody of The Watcher. New readers are caught up to speed while the existing fans are treated to the humor that won them over in the first place. Lines like “AHOY must reboot this mess, and soon” tells you what kind of tone to expect.
The reason the book is so good, and that the series has survived for so long, is that it’s more than just a parody of Silver Age comics. While the central premise hooks you in, it’s the story that reminds you why you like comics in the first place. Too often mainstream parodies feel like an attack on the source material, but Peyer and Igle are laughing with comics, not at them. Combine this with surprisingly deep characters and you have a recipe for success.
AHOY Comics
As it’s an AHOY book you don’t just get a really good comic, but two short prose stories too. Both are a good read and together you’ve got one book with a lot of value in it.
There’s really nothing to turn your nose at here. Usually a story so deep into its run could be confusing to new readers, but Peyer and Igle go out of their way to introduce people to the worlds and recap the story so far. So really there’s nothing bad here. You’ll get more from the book if you’ve read the previous installments, but you don’t lose out on anything having not read them (yet).
The Wrong Earth: Dead Ringers #1 is another fantastic addition to the AHOY lineup and Wrong Earth series. New readers are welcomed into the club while returning readers are rewarded for following these heroes for five years.
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