Damage Control #1 (1989)

A new organization exists to stymie heroes and turn everything into a beaurocratic nightmare: Damage Control. D.C. Get it?

It’s a decent series although the writing is clunky and the “big robot villain” is silly and completely over-powered.  It was created by The Tinkerer and it’s able to withstand the full force of The Avengers and Spider-Man.  Putting that to one side, the idea of a team responsible for rebuilding a city that is broken apart on a regular business is fantastic.

I like how the scenes emphasize the damage to the structures and streets.

Thunderball appears at Damage Control’s offices to recover his wrecking ball, which he lost at the scene of a crime.  I love the mistake about his name (in the panel above), and I also dig that DC is giving him back his ball.

He’s a criminal, but I would expect that it’s part of DC’s business model to ensure that those who create damage have the ability to continue to do so.

There’s also a scene where a DC employee turns green, gets powers, and jumps away like Hulk after recovering a strange object at a rebuild site.  That’ll probably be important later.

The issue ends with a guy who is clearly Jack Kirby, proudly surveying the slipshod work of the DC team rebuilding the World Trade Center.

Again, clunky start but I love the idea.

Artist Ernie Colon is well known in the industry, but this was his first Earth 616 story. Prior to this his Marvel work involved franchises like Star Wars.

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