Dynamo 5 #17 – Review

By Jay Faerber (Writer), Mahmud A. Asrar (Artist), and Ron Riley (Colors)

The Story: Scatterbrain enters Maddie Warner’s unconscious as she lies comatose as a result of the attack she suffered at the hands of Brains, a Tower City super-villain. By exploring and confronting the past, Maddie gains new insight into the decisions she made that lead to the relationship she had with Captain Dynamo.

What’s Good: Jay Faerber’s character work in this issue is fantastic as it features some surprisingly poignant dialogue. It is Faerber doing what he does best for an entire issue and that, my friends, is a good thing. The rich characterization is made even better thanks to some strong artwork highlighting Maddie’s past and Scatterbrain’s mental projection. Also, as a stand-alone story, the issue works well within the larger scheme of things by adding depth to the two characters that (I believe) have needed it the most.

What’s Not So Good: That this feels like every bit the filler story it is supposed to be. It seems like most of what is presented here could have been broken up between the last few issues instead of having an entire issue devoted to it. I love the character work here, but as far as the overall plot goes, it didn’t really advance it in any significant way. With the price of comic books these days it hurts to spend money on something that seems to go nowhere.

Conclusion: It is possible to skip this one without missing anything but some great character work. Far from essential to the plot and lacking action, pick this one up only if you have some spare cash after grabbing everything else from the week.

Grade: C-

-Kyle Posluszny