By Clyde Hall — Multiverses come, and multiverses go. But as any fan who once lived for annual Crises can attest, parallel dimensional crossovers have seldom been more fun than AHOY Comics’ The Wrong Earth set of titles. The first series set a very high bar and subsequent explorations added to the enjoyment.

In the beginning there was Earth-Alpha, a reality reminiscent of the early Silver Age. A world the Comics Code Authority would have had no trouble approving, wherein preeminent superhero Dragonflyman and his faithful young sidekick, Stinger, battled a Rogues Gallery of colorful, crazed criminals. Battles in which that dynamo-duo prevailed with panels punctuated by onomatopoeia POWS! and ZLOPS!

There also existed a darker version, Earth-Omega, where the belabored soul of Fortune City was for sale to the highest bidder. There, the wanted vigilante Dragonfly tipped the balance with an agenda of morally ambiguous, sometimes lethal, justice. The biggest crooks often hid behind lofty honorifics like Mayor and Commissioner in this urban sprawl, and nobody’s conscious was clear. At best, they ranked ‘mostly cloudy’ and the scale F5’d upward from there.

Think in terms of Star Trek versus its Mirror Universe. Or one world built upon William Dozier’s campy TV aesthetic of Batman ’66, the other a similar but more Nolanesque Dark Knight saga, told with a hard-R rating. Then, imagine a mystical mirror displacing the two costumed crimefighters, sending Dragonflyman to Earth-Omega while Dragonfly materialized on Earth-Alpha. More, imagine that even swapped into these alternate realities, both Dragonflys do more than survive. They adapt, serving the cause of justice in ways neither had before, and with lots of humor along the way.

In their storytelling and visuals, creators Tom Peyer and Jamal Igle made these Wrong Earth tales a delightful romp, a ‘can’t miss’ comic book celebration and an exploration of two eras. They mined misplaced hero mirth while also charting moments of pathos along the way. The high ideals of superheroics clashing with the streetwise compromises of later capes and cowls treatments sent the optimism of the early 1960’s comics headlong against the grim visions of the 90’s. Appropriately, the above breakdown is related in this premiere by a Johnny DC-like mascot called Cappy Comics who breaches the fourth wall, bringing new readers up to speed quickly and quirkily.

In The Wrong Earth: Trapped on Teen Planet #1, AHOY goes back to this well for further, and even more far-flung, adventures presented in a series of five one-shot issues. Each will have a different creative team exploring the AHOY multiple Earths concept. And even with some of these titles revealed, I’m uncertain what focus each book will takes in opening the playground. But I am certain of the talent tapped for these sandbox passes, beginning with Gail Simone writing #1.

On Earth-Alpha, the transplanted vigilante Dragonfly along with sidekick Stinger and former villain moll Deuce encounter a robotic entity crossing multiple realities. He battles Dragonfly and pulls him through the mystic mirror portal into a reality neither Earth-Alpha nor Earth-Omega. Stinger and Deuce follow, and the trio find themselves in Sun Valley, home of Sandy, America’s Favorite Boy. It’s a Teen World, where all similarities between his youthful friends and the gang from Riverdale are purely intentional. Eventually, Dragonfly and company track down the villain responsible for rocking the Universe Hop bandstand and deliver ample thwartage to the nefarious scheme.

As a Dragonfly-verse/Everything’s Archie chocolate malted mashup, #1 hits all the important notes. It even adds Chock’lit Shoppe surprise sprinkles. Such as how Dragonfly, the grim and gritty vigilante, knows and even reveres, Sandy. Turns out, Sandy’s comics provided a touchstone for decency in his youth, a childhood on Earth-Omega where decent was in extremely short supply. Now standing in the world of his childhood escapist fantasies, our hero expresses the truth of many comics fans: These funny books, quite often, saved us. They set standards of conduct, established higher values and principles, than we usually saw in everyday life. Inspired us with the courage of the masked men and women helping those less powerful than themselves. Or just made us laugh when real life too often inspired only tears.

For fans of the classic Riverdale books, Simone creates a spot-on cast of analog characters. She adds in a Pecan Sandys singing group for a pop rock beat, performing their hit single ‘Honey, Honey’. There’s even a canine companion possessing more than mere animal intelligence, and with a penchant for near-swear words. There are also nods to the Red Circle superheroes of the Archie/MLJ line, and a heartfelt shout out to the magic of comics maestro Dan DeCarlo.

His distinctive artistic style is channeled beautifully by Bill Morrison. It’s a sublime homage, and Morrison gets big bonus points for his depiction of Deuce discarding her former Harley-like criminal identity to become Batgirl…erm, Lady Dragonfly. Bonus-bonus points for his work on the Debbie’s Pin-Up Page and Deuce’s Cosplay Pin-Up Page. These were updated versions of winsome, wholesome bonus art pages from comics’ fifteen cent cover price days.

The Wrong Earth - Trapped on Teen Planet #1 works on most every level, with one minor quibble. The Cappy mascot bit is a brilliant device for introducing how the Dragonfly-verse works. The breaking of the fourth wall and shuffling aside pages was amusing. But as the mascot applied for different positions within the comics company and took his bosses to task, the comedy became more forced. As a humor bit, it just went a little long.

As in previous editions of The Wrong Earth, things tend to be slightly askew from the norms of each setting. That’s what happens when characters from one reality impact the sensibilities of another. In the case of Teen World, we get Riverdale wholesome fun, but with Sun Valley’s continuity characters changed by a new multiverse of possibilities outside their own. In this creative team’s hands, the result is a satisfying storytelling blend. And with a talent lineup for the next four one-shots including Mark Russell, Stuart Moore, and Mark Waid, this is a title I’ll be following with anticipation.

Overall: In reminding us why we loved these teen humor comics so very much, Simone and Morrison create a bonafide, four-color cockle-warmer. They share a Madhouse full of fun exploring The Wrong Earth: Trapped on Teen Planet #1. 9.0/10

The Wrong Earth: Trapped on Teen Planet #1

The Wrong Earth: Trapped on Teen Planet #1
Writer: Gail Simone, with SECOND WRITER (Back-Up): David Hyde
Penciler: Walter Geovani (pg. 1-9)
Inker: Rob Lean (pgs. 1-9)
Artist: Bill Morrison (pgs. 10-22), and (Back-Up)
Colors: Andy Troy
Letterer: Rob Steen
Publisher: AHOY Comics
Price: $4.99
The first of five unique one-shots building and expanding on the world of AHOY's The Wrong Earth, by some of the biggest names in comics! First off: superstar writer Gail Simone contributes an extra-long story as grim and gritty vigilante Dragonfly is whisked to an alternate Earth of teen-agers, malt shops, love triangles, and school dances! Will this innocent world soften him? Or will his violent methods poison it? Featuring variant covers by Dan Parent (Archie) and Gene Ha (Top Ten, Mae).

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Clyde Hall (He/Him) lives in Southern Illinois. He’s an Elder Statesman of Geekery, an indie author, a comics fan/reviewer, and a contributing writer at Stormgate Press. He’s on twitter at: (@CJHall1984)