DMC

by Darryl McDaniels, Chase Conley (artist), Jeff Stokely (artist)

It's 1985 in New York City. Wildstyle graffiti covers subway cars as. B-boys break and spin in playgrounds and on street corners. Koch is mayor. Drugs and crime rule the streets. A terrifying plague is brewing in the shadows. And as the populace loses faith in the police, a man named Bernard Goetz is being hailed as a hero for shooting four teenagers in a subway car.

In this 1985, however, the city's brand new guardian angels wear spandex and capes, wielding their gadgets and their superpowers to clean up the City - even if their methods hurt more people than they help. There's the deluded "graffiti king" Mr. Marx patrolling the tunnels; the dark moral crusader The Puritan who stalks the shadows of the Lower East Side; and above it all, the godlike Helios, darling of the Upper East Side and the NYPD. It seems like only some of New York's residents are benefitting from these vigilantes' protection. The rest whisper the name of another hero: DMC.

You see, in this 1985, Darryl McDaniels (Run DMC) never rocks the mic to become one of hip-hop's most enduring icons. Instead, he dons his tracksuit and Adidas sneakers to defends the city's marginalized citizens against super villain and super hero alike, leaving no traces besides the imprint of his knuckle rings on his opponents' faces. (By day, though, he teaches junior high school English.) With the help of reporter Charlie Cooper and a band of graffiti artists led by the spunky Lak6, DMC must confront the new "heroes," and investigate whether there's anything behind their sudden appearance.

DMC, the inaugural title from Darryl Makes Comics, imagines an alternate history that blends traditional comic book storytelling with the pressures and anxieties of 1980's NYC, and explores how we got to where we are now. DMC is a superhero for those who need one most.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics

100 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2014

About the author

Darryl "D.M.C." Matthews McDaniels is a musician, rapper and producer. He is a founding member of the hip hop group Run–D.M.C and is known as a pioneer in the genre.

Reviews

[Noah Appelbaum · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think it is really cool that this exists. It's a nice slice of comics nostalgia infused with a pioneering hip-hop artist's sensibilities and some woke social justice messages. There's a lot to like-- the art is stylish, the feel is right, the themes are great-- it's just... not actually very good?

[Ron Maskell · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's ok, but that's about it. DMC as some sort of super hero/vigilante set in the era of Bernie Goetz is the premise. It's only the first book so there's not much to go on but still even after finishing the book I was still not that impressed.

[Denis · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much better than it needed to be. Alternate superheroic NYC in the 1980s with lots of early hiphop culture. Also, great parodies of classic comic covers in the back.