‘The Center Holds’ #1 feels more like a concept than an actual story

Plenty of promise beneath its surface – it just needs to dig a little deeper to access it.

February 10, 2026

I should like The Center Holds #1 more than I did.

This is a story that combines the talents of Larry Hama and the late, great M.D. “Doc” Bright. Hama’s well-known for his definitive work on G.I. Joe, not to mention Wolverine, Batman and other comic book icons. Bright helped co-create Quantum and Woody for Valiant and Icon for Milestone Media, and brought the legendary “Armor Wars” storyline to life with his art. The concept also sounded ripe with potential: a superhero team that has to unionize? You could tackle all sorts of issues with capitalism and the gig economy through that superpowered lens.

Yet it feels like Hama’s script is merely scratching the surface of an interesting world. The Superhero Union, which serves as the main team in The Center Holds, mostly consists of familiar archetypes: armored hero Scyber is a cross between Iron Man and the Teen Titans’ Cyborg, while the psychic Lakshmi is a gender-swapped version of Charles Xavier. On top of that, the narration is full of captions ruminating on destiny and heroism, with boilerplate musings that have been asked and answered by other comics like Watchmen, Astro City, and Minor Threats.

On top of that, the idea of a superhero union actually unionizing never comes to fruition, which is especially baffling given that this comic tops out at 42 pages. Again, I’ve seen other comics cover an insane amount of ground in the same page length. The ending is also weird, as it just stops in the middle of a sequence. Did Hama forget a page, or did he mean to end the issue there?

The writing in The Center Holds #1 might be hit and miss, but the art certainly isn’t. Bright always knew how to draw a big, bombastic scene: the issue opens with Scyber flying through the air on a metal disk, with people staring in awe at her gold and silver armor. Buildings feel sleek and futuristic, and so does the technology, whether it’s the wheelchair Lakshmi uses or the massive suit of power armor that the hero Nekkotron pilots.

Perhaps the most out-there character is the one who looks fairly mundane: the supervillain Mr. Right, who wears a simple blue suit and an elephant mask while shouting out the kind of nonsense that you’d see on your Twitter feed. Josh Burcham’s colors add the finishing touch, giving this book a palette of lighter hues that wouldn’t be out of place in a ’90s-era comic. Even the sound effects by Janice Chiang feel like a throwback to a certain era of comics, which makes me wish The Center Holds had gone all-in on that aesthetic.

The best thing about The Center Holds #1 is that a portion of its profits will be donated to the Hero Initiative, which supports comics creators in times of need. It’s one of two reasons that I recommend picking up this comic, as you’ll be a real life hero to the creators who’ve brought us so many great stories. The other is that The Center Holds #1 has plenty of promise beneath its surface – it just needs to dig a little deeper to access it.