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" In the latest of our comprehensive series of reviews of DC Comics&amp;#039; 52 relaunched titles, we take a look at Men of War #1. Who&amp;#039;s it by? Men of War #1 is written by Ivan Brandon (Final Crisis Aftermath, Marvel Comics Presents) with artwork by Tom Derenick (JLA/The 99, Countdown). What&amp;#039;s the history? World War II officer Sergeant Frank Rock made his debut in Army of War #83 back in 1959, and was created by writer Robert Kanigher and artist Joe Kubert. The All-American war hero led a platoon of infantry known as the Easy Company, and eventually went on to star in his own series Sgt. Rock between 1977 and 1988. Although DC Comics published several stories set following the war, in which Rock became a covert operative for the United States government, Kanigher has repeatedly insisted that Sgt. Rock perished in 1945 on the final day of World War II. What&amp;#039;s new? Men of War will introduce readers to a brand new character, the original Sgt. Rock&amp;#039;s grandson Joseph, who also serves in the U.S. military. The titles will also officially introduce &amp;#039;Sgt. Rock&amp;#039; to the modern-day DC Universe, as both he and his special ops unit come struggle to maintain peace in the face of men gifted with superpowers. What happens? Readers are quickly acquainted with &amp;#039;Corporal&amp;#039; Joseph Rock, a promising infantry soldier tasked by Sergeant Torisi to join his new special ops team. Rock eventually agrees to serve under Torisi, who promises him a promotion down the line, and is immediately dispatched to an unknown location to deal with a super-powered foe assaulting the local population. It is established that Joseph is in fact the grandson of the original Sgt. Rock, who died in service during World War II. Men of War #1 also features a back-up strip by Jonathan Vankin and Phil Winslade, which follows the adventures of a Navy Seals unit. What&amp;#039;s the verdict? While Men of War was never going to command the amount of interest a series like Justice League or Superman does, the haunting cover art and classic war hero Sgt. Rock&amp;#039;s reintroduction to the DC Universe hinted at good things for Men of War #1. Unfortunately, this opening issue only partially delivers on this promise, with stale dialogue and a lack of engaging support characters preventing the title from being a real success. Writer Ivan Brandon bookends the issue nicely with two powerful action sequences, but an early scene in which Rock is recruited by Sgt. Torisi falls flat in terms of characterisation. What does work well is Brandon&amp;#039;s depiction of superheroes as dangerous weapons of destruction feared by the everyday man. The writer keeps his villain far away from the action as an almost god-like entity, which helps readers identify with the complete helplessness faced by Rock and his teammates. The Navy Seals back-up feature is a mostly forgettable read, starring a serious of tired character archetypes and stealing a plot twist ripped straight from Stanley Kubrick&amp;#039;s Full Metal Jacket. Overall, Men of War makes a valiant attempt at the somewhat unenviable task of integrating a platoon of soldiers into DC Universe, but will need to develop some stronger characters quickly if it hopes to avoid early cancellation.  &amp;gt; Buy the digital version of Men of War #1 &amp;gt; Read our review of OMAC #1 &amp;gt; Read our review of Batwing #1 Watch the DC Comics New 52 relaunch promo below:      "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/comics/news/a341456/dc-comics-new-52-men-of-war-1-review/>