The Authority: The Lost Year, Vol. 2

The Authority #10

by Keith Giffen, Dave Williams (Illustrator), Brian Stelfreeze (Illustrator)

Best selling writers Grant Morrison and Keith Giffen co-plot this extraordinary series filling in the gaps to explain where The Authority was just before the “World’s End” event that relaunched the WildStorm Universe, how they escaped from a horrifying alternate reality, and at what cost.

The Authority is stranded on an Earth in a reality they don’t recognize. Their powers barely work, and to add insult to injury, in this universe, they’re not only unknown to the population, they're – horror of horrors – comic book characters. Will they make it back home? And if they do, will there be a home left to make it back to?

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Comic Book, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Keith Ian Giffen was an American comic book illustrator and writer. He is possibly best-known for his long runs illustrating, and later writing the Legion of Super-Heroes title in the 1980s and 1990s. He also created the alien mercenary character Lobo (with Roger Slifer), and the irreverent "want-to-be" hero, Ambush Bug. Giffen is known for having an unorthodox writing style, often using characters in ways not seen before. His dialogue is usually characterized by a biting wit that is seen as much less zany than dialogue provided by longtime collaborators DeMatteis and Robert Loren Fleming. That approach has brought him both criticism and admiration, as perhaps best illustrated by the mixed (although commercially successful) response to his work in DC Comics' Justice League International (1987-1992). He also plotted and was breakdown artist for an Aquaman limited series and one-shot special in 1989 with writer Robert Loren Fleming and artist Curt Swan for DC Comics.

Giffen's first published work was "The Sword and The Star", a black-and-white series featured in Marvel Preview, with writer Bill Mantlo. He has worked on titles (owned by several different companies) including Woodgod, All Star Comics, Doctor Fate, Drax the Destroyer, Heckler, Nick Fury's Howling Commandos, Reign of the Zodiac, Suicide Squad, Trencher (to be re-released in a collected edition by Boom! Studios)., T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, and Vext. He was also responsible for the English adaptation of the Battle Royale and Ikki Tousen manga, as well as creating "I Luv Halloween" for Tokyopop. He also worked for Dark Horse from 1994-95 on their Comics Greatest World/Dark Horse Heroes line, as the writer of two short lived series, Division 13 and co-author, with Lovern Kindzierski, of Agents of Law. For Valiant Comics, Giffen wrote XO-Manowar, Magnus, Robot Fighter, Punx and the final issue of Solar, Man of the Atom.

He took a break from the comic industry for several years, working on storyboards for television and film, including shows such as The Real Ghostbusters and Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy.

He is also the lead writer for Marvel Comics's Annihilation event, having written the one-shot prologue, the lead-in stories in Thanos and Drax, the Silver Surfer as well as the main six issues mini-series. He also wrote the Star-Lord mini-series for the follow-up story Annihilation: Conquest. He currently writes Doom Patrol for DC, and is also completing an abandoned Grant Morrison plot in The Authority: the Lost Year for Wildstorm.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 2 out of 5]

What were The Authority doing before The Authority: World's End? Grant Morrison's run on the series was cancelled / not published; it was later resumed with added content by Keith Giffen to create this 'Lost Year' run. Morrison's work in this volume is far superior to Giffen's, whose contributions wreck the this volume, in my opinion! 5 out of 12, Two Stars.

2017 and 2011 read

[SA · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the laugh value of the "totally not gay" Apollo and Midnighter alone, this book was worth the read. And Midnighter's declaration to Apollo that he would never allow Apollo to be killed was just brilliant.

[David Palazzolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not surprisingly, this is the best of the Authority storylines I’ve read, and is almost worth all the back reading I had to do to put it into perspective. It’s a shame that Grant Morrison only wrote the first two issues but he is credited with plotting the rest of the arc, so Keith Giffen must have kept most of the major story beats (he certainly did in the closing chapters of the opening four part story). In the article I read online that revealed Lost Year to me, it mentioned Morrison’s issues were the most realistic thus far of any Authority run and I have to agree, it was quite a change from the ol’ Widescreen Ultraviolence. Having said that, it feels less and less like a Morrison story as the series progresses reaching a peak moment in a two part arc co-written by JM DeMatteis featuring the Authority meeting their parallel universe counterparts in a Justice League International-flavored world. Then for the last three chapters it comes back to a strong Morrison influence. The final chapter is beautifully illustrated by Jerry Ordway but I’m not really happy with the story of it. They spend a lot of time ruminating on their recent experiences and seem on the verge of actually learning from them when they decide to ignore it all and return to business as usual. Not the best literary ending, but it does have the virtue of probably being the most realistic outcome.

[***Dave Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marginally better than the mish-mosh of Vol. 1, it does at least deal with the Authority questioning whether their intervention and human failings actually makes them the bad guys or not. It's still tonally (and artistically) all over the place.

The best part, perversely enough, is when J M DeMatteis joins Giffen as co-writer, giving us an installment along the lines of their Justice League / Justice League International run, a mix-up that works far better (and legitimately) than it should.

[Erik · Rating 2 out of 5]

I knew nothing about The Authority before this and only read it because of Morrison's name. It doesn't give any sense of who the characters are for new readers, and that, coupled with a story entirely built around alternate versions of those characters and wildly inconsistent, often poor art, meant I never cared at all about anything that was happening.

[Sarabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This entire series was just "meh" for me. It was so inconsistent and frequently lacked the tone and character strength that made earlier runs so strong. Still, I liked this volume better than the first half. The Giffen/DeMatteis team-up issues were the most enjoyable part (ridiculously silly and more like JLI than The Authority, but had me giggling the whole time nonetheless).

[Kurt Lorenz · Rating 2 out of 5]

8-9 ☆
10-11 ☆☆
12 ☆☆☆

[Cassie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best was the “traditional” superhero pastiche featuring the Saturday Morning Authority, complete with closeted Apollo & Midnight.

[Serene · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only volume in this I liked was the last story. Did not care for the soap opera world, or the world where Midnighter was sort of a gestapo-esque bad guy (although he was hot). YEt another world where poor Apollo is dead. But at least he died a hero.

Pencils were inconsistent and downright ugly to me at times. Particularly the soap opera world. characters looked older or younger depending on who drew them. Jenny looked particularly badly drawn throughout going from a kid, to an adult and back again.

I don't care for gen 13 scenes as they seem too juvenile for such an adult book and they sort of make a cameo in the final world that is visited. I found them shooting heroin with the doctor kinda disturbing. I'm hoping they are intended to be older.

The final book was worth it for the scene where Apollo voices his fears about dying to Midnighter. Midnighter did a cute job of assuaging those fears, although calling him a dumb blonde was kind of cruel.

Overall, could be better.