At a time when Marvel are attempting to persuade their existing readers to part with even more money for intricately interconnected titles incomprehensible to those of us who haven’t read the last five years of their comics, DC come up with a genuinely bright idea.  Wednesday Comics is a weekly anthology consisting of single page installments of stories in a broadsheet-newspaper size collection, 15 stories in all.

It’s a fresh and bold attempt to do something different of potential appeal to anyone with a vague interest in the medium, and the publisher has smartly decided to put some major talent into the project, as well as some of its signature brands: Batman leads on the front page, and you’ll find Superman and Wonder Woman in there as well as a bunch of lesser known characters.

Yes, the sniffy might say that it’s far from an original concept: this is essentially a 21st century reinvention of the comics supplements that many newspapers ran in decades past.  But it’s still an exciting move in industry terms, and one I hope will pay off for DC.  Necessarily, the first issue covers some ground repeatedly, what with having to introduce characters to readers and fill in back stories to a greater or lesser degree, but as the title progresses through its twelve-week run, I’m sure the contents will become even more diverse than they are at present.

What’s fascinating is seeing how different creators play with the new space they’ve been given.  The Batman story, by 100 Bullets creators Azzarello and artist Risso, is fairly conventional in its use of the page, and nonetheless looks striking.  Next up, David Gibbons and artist Ryan Sook take us back to the days of Prince Valiant with their take on the Kirby hero Kamandi, with blocks of narrative text within the panels giving the page a very different kind of rhythm.

Paul Pope does a fine job on spacefarer Adam Strange, designing a symmetrical page that emphasises its depth, and has flying monkeys for added value.  The Flash probably uses its page most inventively, split into two stories, one on the hero himself, the other focusing on his wife, in a story that will see the two overlap in some interesting fashion somewhere along the line.  Stylistically, it makes the former look like a fairly standard — albeit impeccably illustrated — superhero strip, while Iris West looks more like a romance or true life tale.  Writer Karl Kerschl and artist Brendan Fletcher are to be congratulated for this fascinating choice.

Two of the best strips are saved for last: Demon and Catwoman get a page gorgeously drawn by Brian Stelfreeze with subdued and effective colours by Steve Wands.  The only shame is that it’s written and not drawn by Walt Simonson, whose energetic design-conscious art I’d have thought was perfect for pages this size: here’s hoping that happens in the future.  Last up, Kyle Baker’s Hawkman has probably the largest single panel in the whole comic, a striking image of a martial Hawkman surrounded by his avian allies.

With 15 stories, some are going to appeal more than others.  Ben Caldwell’s Wonder Woman looks fantastic, and gives us the busiest page with nearly 50 panels, but the writing doesn’t convince as yet.  And I suspect Neil Gaiman’s Metamorpho, though it looks poptastic with Mike Allred artwork, could be a touch too kitchsy to be truly engaging.

Still, those count as minor quibbles.  Overall, Wednesday Comics is one of the most enjoyable and fun comics I’ve seen for a while: no convoluted grimness here, just colourful and enjoyable storytelling by some of the finest creators in the business.  Here’s hoping its twelve week run is continued when the beancounters have got the results in on this first incarnation.  Editor Mike Chiarello can take a bow: this is quality stuff, well conceived and delivered in almost every respect.