Writers: Grant Morrison, Mark Millar
Artists: N. Steven Harris, Keith Champagne
Colorist: Michael Danza
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Ongoing series (ended after 10 issues)
Published by DC Comics, 1996-1997
$1.75 each

Reviewed by Scott O. Brown

I was buying Skinny Puppy's last album when I saw this... this book on the stands that looked so incredibly... cheesy... that I had to pick it up. A DCU superhero displayed in all his glory -- with a South American motif -- co-written by Grant Morrison. Had to be interesting. Had to be bought. So I grabbed the first two issues and discovered a hero and a city, both more alive than any I'd seen in years.

AZTEK features the reconstructionist superhero at its earliest, predating the ABC line by several years and KINGDOM COME by a few months. Morrison and Millar take all of the conventions that writer Alan Moore tore apart in WATCHMEN and rebuild the superhero genre within the context of the DC Universe. They follow every possible avenue from a new direction-from the ubiquitous second issue guest star to creating a secret identity. The final product is a hero for the '90s that didn't even last a year.

AZTEK is about a hero trained, from birth, to battle the shadow god, Tezcatlicopa. At his command are the talents and experiences off all those who wore his helmet before him. It's a simple premise, but Morrison and Millar walk our protagonist through each step. There are no spontaneous secret identities here. Aztek assumes the real name of a doctor turned pseudo-has-been supervillian who dies in the first issue. From there, Morrison and Millar put Aztek through a gauntlet of violent resident heroes, losers, villains trying to make a name and old DCU mainstays like the Joker. All the while, the creative team toys with convention, showing us how superheroes really work, without making us too aware of the genre.

There is a certain degree of minimalism in the AZTEK books that we do not see in other works like WATCHMEN. WATCHMEN was dense and verbose in style, creating a level of symbolism and thematic density that exposes superheroes for what they really are: overblown, melodramatic soap operas. However, AZTEK embraces the soap-operatic form of superheroes and uses its simplest tools: a love interest, conflict between alter egos and a new villain each issue. It doesn't stray. It's this simple story telling that strengthens and fleshes out the series and its characters as a whole. AZTEK has no unnecessary foreshadowing or infinitely long monologues to distract. We learn about these characters through their actions and snippets of dialogue -- the way real writing works. Add a simple backstory of gods vying for control and a murdered father, and it all comes to life.

The art is strong, simple, and dynamic. It is pure superhero storytelling stripped of any unnecessary lines. N. Steven Harris knows where to put all the details, and where to omit them. The layouts are simple and easy to follow. The only drawback to the book is the panel-to-panel transitions. They become too abrupt, requiring too much closure on the reader's part in some places. It is a particular problem where normalcy cuts to action and vice versa.

The title was cut short with issue 10, leaving a lot of unanswered questions. Among them: the story behind the city of Vanity, the role of Aztek's estranged family, and the motives behind the Q Foundation, and the details behind the return of the Shadow God (who was actually Mageddon from Morrison's run on JLA).

Readers should track down the old issues and read this. It's a great book that didn't get the audience that it deserved.

Strongly Recommended

Scott O. Brown is Comics Editor for PopImage and has, on occasion, confused Aztecs with Incas.