Resurrection Man #5 – Review

By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Fernando Blanco (artist), Santi Arcas (colorist)

The Story: Don’t think of it as dying, Mitch—think of it as God asking you out on a date.

The Review: It’s been hard to take Resurrection Man seriously, both as a character and as a hero.  A lot of it has to do with his very conception.  I’ve said this before, but the idea of a hero who seemingly can’t die takes out half the tension of the story, and the fact that Mitch has no memory of who he is and thus no connections which can be threatened means another huge chunk of tension is lost as well.

And if most of the tension is gone, all you have left is a bunch of things happening without any feeling of investment in them.  I don’t know about you, but that’s how I feel about almost every plotline running through this series.  The stuff about Heaven and Hell fighting over Mitch’s soul has become so redundant, and with so little point, that you almost wish either one will finally get it in their grasp so as to introduce a little bit of conflict into the story.

The use of the Transhuman and Body Doubles also feels bland and empty.  The Body Doubles have added little to the title except for a little exposition and a lot of cheesecake, and the Transhuman, aside from a couple interesting beats, has offered even less.  This issue sees them doing almost nothing at all, and with Mitch out of the picture, they seem at a loss of what to do with themselves, other than futilely attacking Suriel (for revenge, I suppose?).

When I say Mitch is out of the picture, I mean he’s no longer active in the present story.  Obviously, with a title like Resurrection Man, it’d be a major misnomer if he actually managed to die for good in the fifth issue, so have no fear—he comes back.  And that’s exactly what I mean about the lack of tension.  When last issue ended with Suriel pouting that she might have killed him permanently this time, you knew that couldn’t possibly be true, so the fact Mitch comes back this time is no surprise at all.

Resurrection Man #4 – Review

By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Fernando Dagnino (artist), Santi Arcas (colorist)

The Story: You know, he’s just as sick and tired of dying as you are of killing him.

The Review: The biggest problem with this series so far has been its relentless repetition.  Each issue has featured Mitch’s death and subsequent resurrection, a slice of cheesecake and violence from the Body Doubles, and some supernatural mumbo-jumbo from celestial forces either above or below.  This has made the title feel rote and predictable, a death mark for any ongoing series.

In a lot of ways, this issue continues to fill that tiresome mold, which needs to change, pronto.  Every scene features at least a couple characters mentioning points that DnA have already well established, whether it’s the Body Doubles on their resilience (“We’re posthuman.  Waaay beyond your crude cybernetic junk.  Waaaaay beyond.”) or Suriel on Mitch’s prized soul (“…so frighteningly overdue, so staggeringly mortgaged, the note has been passed up to the most extreme collection agency of all.”).

But this time around, we also get a few redeeming reveals that give the plot a bit of a kick.  The most important is Bonnie implying that Mitch and the Body Doubles were once possibly on the same side: “…I used to respect you.  For your work, and everything.”  And when Suriel later reveals that the Doubles work as “enforcers for one of the darkest sectors of America’s military-industrial complexes,” you can see how it connects to Mitch’s past military work, as recalled by Mr. Roth in #2.

Speaking of whom, another major twist in the story comes when Mr. Roth—or the Transhuman, as he’d prefer to be known—divulges the fact that his fancy-pants suit runs on his own life-force and that he’s actually “nineteen years old!”  While it’s not clear how DnA plan to incorporate this rather weird turn of events into the story, but at least it ensures the Transhuman will remain a fixture of this title for a while, until his aging problem gets resolved, one way or another.

Resurrection Man #3 – Review

By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Fernando Dagnino (artist), Santi Arcas (colorist)

The Story: What did your mother tell you about making deals with intangible, formless entities?

The Review: Here’s a theory about gimmicks: use them judiciously, and they can be an entertaining plot device (Zatanna’s backwards talk, or Dial H for Hero); let them fly without check and now you’ve got a one-note plot that seems repetitive and thin as a result.  At a certain point, readers catch on to the idea, the formula becomes too familiar, and then all the tension that makes a story worthwhile goes out the window.

That’s not quite happening here yet, but this title gets right on the verge of it.  When you have Mitch coming back to life twice in rapid succession, it just emphasizes how much suspense you lose when you have a character who can’t die.  To fill that vacuum, DnA offer instead a roulette wheel of powers our hero can rise again with, but since the ability he ends up with seems pretty random, you don’t get much satisfying speculation out of that either.

Then there are our antagonists, the Body Doubles, who have their own formidable resilience.  Essentially, the action consists of people duking it out passionately, but with no real reason to do so since none of them have any fear of permanent harm.  When Carmen gets a broken jaw, or Bonnie blown through a wall by a sonic wail, or Mitch shot with armor-piercing rounds, you know none of it matters, so you simply move on, unmoved.

About the only time a real sense of peril enters the issue is during Mitch’s rather brief sojourn “in between.”  There, Mitch has no resurrecting body at his disposal, only his immortal soul—which, apparently, can be eaten.  Unfortunately, this precious period of vulnerability gets squandered on a long, rambling monologue full of eye-rolling euphemisms, about how forces “upstairs” and “downstairs” want Mitch for their own because “You keep not dying and it’s causing problems.  Bookkeeping problems.  Columns ain’t balancing.”

None of this, by the way, reveals anything we haven’t already figured out for ourselves or advances any of the storylines at stake: Mitch’s quest for his past; the shadowy people who set the Body Doubles after him in the first place; and not even with the actual running plot thread about Suriel et al’s attempts to capture him.

Resurrection Man #2 – Review

By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Fernando Dagnino (artist), Santi Arcas (colorist)

The Story: Getting chased by two hot ladies sounds pretty great in theory, and yet…

The Review: We don’t know too much about Mitch Shelley, the Resurrection Man, but in his defense, he doesn’t know too much about himself either.  It’s not the most unusual twist in the world when a comic book character knows more about his superpowers than his own past, but at least you’re never in want for mystery.  That said, the writers must take on the responsibility of keeping you interested if they want to keep you out of the loop.

One way to do that is to create a character who engages you with his personality alone, if not his background.  So far, you can’t say Mitch does much of that.  While not unlikable in any way, he just seems too buttoned-up and straight-laced to get very attached to his character.  At times, he becomes a cipher in his own comic, acting as instrument to deliver or acquire more information for us, but not actually doing much in particular.

The most we get to see of Mitch’s humanness (so to speak) is in the way he deals with Mr. Roth, a co-resident at the residential care home where Mitch’s dad spent his last days.  These scenes play very well, but mostly because Mr. Roth himself has such a lively personality of his own, being old-school bananas: “I was a super-villain.  Professional.  High tech end of the market.  They called me the Transhuman.  Maybe you heard of me?”  Mitch: “Ooo-kay.”

At least we glean a few interesting tidbits about Mitch’s past.  We learn he, like his father, was a scientist.  We know he used to work in corporate research, with ties to the government.  We also know that Mitch might have been something of a cold workaholic (Mr. Roth says, grinning, “You didn’t much give me the time of day, then, I recall.”).  From that we can take a few guesses as to a possible source of Mitch’s powers, but we don’t gain much more than that.

Resurrection Man #1 – Review

By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Fernando Dagnino (artist) Santi Arcas (colorist)

The Story: He takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’.

The Review: If you want to give such a character another try at the popular market, it’s worth examining their core concept to see what made them a cult hit the first time around.  You won’t have too difficult a time recognizing the macabre appeal of Resurrection Man.  We often joke about death being no great obstacle in the world of comics, but the entire basis of R. Man’s powers and actions spring from his rising from the dead.

While the idea on paper sounds a little tongue-in-cheek, DnA, R. Man’s creators, manage to portray the concept in credibly tense fashion.  Right from the start we get to see his powers in action as he awakens on a morgue’s gurney and proceeds to sneak out, acquire some clothes and funds, and assess the skill set he comes back with this time.  He does all this with the systematic nonchalance of a veteran, which rings home just how often he’s had to repeat this process.

Of course, you have the big two questions: how and why?  While the “how” remains mostly a mystery, we get a couple intriguing clues as to the reason for his being.  Upon each revival, he has “a new…thing that I just have to do.  A gut feeling I can’t ignore.”  Your first instinct may lean towards the theory that a higher power guides him, but then you have to wonder: which higher power?  From the looks of things, both the guys “upstairs” and “the basement office” want R. Man’s soul.  So if he’s being compelled to act, who’s responsible for the compulsion?

Like many of the “Dark” titles, this issue doesn’t hesitate to offer some food for thought along with the action.  DnA set up the story so we get a very intimate look at a few of the individuals R. Man’s meant to encounter and presumably help.  When the rug ultimately gets pulled out from under us, the tragedy of the scene really comes through, its hopelessness emphasized by his flight companion, who informs him that the people’s fates had already been sealed, making you wonder if R. Man’s being brought back time and again for a purpose or as a cruel joke.