Unknown Soldier #25 – Review

by Joshua Dysart (writer), Alberto Ponticelli (art), Oscar Celestini (colors), and Clem Robins (letters)

The Story: Moses comes face to face with Joseph Kony in the explosive series finale.

What’s Good: Though the mid-twenties has proven a frequent cancellation point for Vertigo series, the end has come too soon for Unknown Soldier.  With that said, it’s a relief that Joshua Dysart doesn’t appear to have compromised his original ending for the series.  The final scenes play out in fairly satisfying fashion and it feels like this really is the ending Dysart has always envisioned.

As a final issue, Unknown Soldier #25 is an interesting read that deals head-on with some of the core problems of its basic form: a fictional comic book based on a DC property colliding with a brutal, real world situation.  Nowhere is this conflict more apparent than this month, when Moses finally meets the head of the LRA, Joseph Kony; real world bad guy meets fictional crusader.  What occurs as a result is something that had me really respecting Dysart’s skill as a writer.  At first, it appears that we’re going to get another Inglourious Basterds, a sort of revenge fantasy in which we watch an invincible hero beat the holy hell out of a loathsome figure from our world.

Then, tragically, gut-wrenchingly, Dysart basically slaps us back to reality.  He brutally reminds us that this is all fantasy.  He makes our desired ending look downright silly, making us feel like fools to expect, or take such joy in, such an utterly ridiculous conclusion.  Joseph Kony truly exists and Moses, as a result, is horribly powerless in comparison.  To expect a fictional character to have any real effect on a real world figure, even in that character’s fictional world, is ludicrous and unrealistic.  It’s a brutal kind of chastisement from Dysart.

Unknown Soldier #23 – Review

by Joshua Dysart (writer), Alberto Ponticelli (art), Oscar Celestini (colors), and Clem Robins (letters)

The Story: Moses/Subject Nine meets up with Jack and they plan their next move at a CIA base camp.

What’s Good: This month sees Jack at his most lovable.  It’s hard not to like the guy when he’s playing basketball with kids (and losing).  We also get to see more of his chemistry with Moses, which has always been great.  More than ever, there’s a barely concealed kind of affection and/or pity that Jack shows for his partner in crime.  Never before has the name “Kemo Sabe” felt so heavy.  It becomes a link for Jack to the Moses of old, an expression of tenderness, nostalgia, and regret.

Jack’s narration is similarly effective on an emotional level and, if this truly is the last we see of the character, a wonderful send-off.  The narration sees Jack go against his nature, and his confusion over this.  It takes an entire issue for Jack to figure out what’s wrong with him: he’s become a good Samaritan.  It’s a really great evolution of the character and carries just a touch of redemption and a fleck of gold in the character’s heart.  Seeing the character say farewell only made me all the sadder over Unknown Soldier’s fast approaching final issue.

Moses and Sera’s reunion is almost equally effective.  Dysart makes it painfully clear just how far apart these two characters have grown over the course of the series, while also suggesting that there’s no happy ending possible for this relationship.  It’s a tragic sequence that Dysart plays well; it’s as unfulfilling for the reader as it is for the characters, which I think is the point.  Ponticelli also does a great job illustrating the crucial facial expressions and emotions.

Mindfield #1 – Review

by JT Krul (writer), Alex Konat (pencils), Saleem Crawford & Jon Bolerjack (inks), John Starr (colors), and Josh Reed (letters)

The Story: An elite CIA squad of psychics does some counter-terrorist wetwork as we’re introduced to a whole new side of American security.

What’s Good: As far as first issues go, this is a solid outing.  The concept is cool, the world is cool, and the characters seem likable enough.

All this aside though, this issue lives on its depiction of its characters’ psychic powers, which Krul writes in spectacular fashion.  I never imagined psychic powers could be so damned slick.  Telepathy is brief, crisp battlefield communication.  Characters are able to see what their enemies see in a shoot-out in order to get the drop.  It’s fast, brutal, and generally awesome.  More importantly, these powers lend the comic a sort of visceral thrill that feels empowering in its breaking of sensory limits; the characters are ice-cold ESP experts, always three steps ahead of the competition.

For all the breakneck action and coolness delivered by these powers, Krul also shows diversity in his ability to slow things down through these same psychic abilities.  When used outside of a firefight or ambush, our characters’ powers create what feels almost like a sort of pathos.  One of our heroes, Connor, incidentally reads a rapist’s mind, leading to some really, really creepy and somewhat metaphorical imagery that was startling in its effectiveness.  Through this scene and others, Krul makes it clear that these characters are never free of their abilities; they’re far more than battlefield aids, as they continue to haunt long after the mission is over.

Artist Alex Konat very much mirror’s Krul’s performance, as his illustrations of these psychic powers in action are pretty astounding and quite often very creative.  Psychic visions take on a dreamy, painted quality that stands in instant contrast with the style of the rest of the book.  Konat’s neatest trick comes early in the book, however, when he fuses a “remote viewer’s” illustrations with their real world counterparts; a building, for example, will be half black and white sketch as a character, holding the drawing of it, walks up to it.  It’s a surreal representation of an internal thought process.

Unknown Soldier #20 – Review

by Joshua Dysart (writer), Alberto Ponticelli (art), Oscar Celestini (colors), and Clem Robins (letters)

The Story: Moses and a beleaguered family make a last stand against the Karamojong cattle raiders.

What’s Good: With Unknown Soldier’s cancellation at issue #25, some big developments happen at the end of this issue that starts to set-up the series’ conclusion.  The most significant, and potentially the most disturbing, of these events is the final fate of Moses Lwanga’s personality, which has been battling for consciousness with the Unknown Soldier voice within his mind.  In typical fashion for this series, what happens is tragic, but also beautifully scripted by Dysart and rendered by Ponticelli.  What occurs physically on the page as Moses recedes is perfectly symbolic with what is occurring internally, there’s even a sense of suicide.  It’s very, very well done and I ended feeling a mix of disappointed, concerned, and saddened.

Most of the issue, however, sees Moses and a family of Karamojong desperately attempting to hold their ground against wave after wave of homicidal cattle raiders.  It’s rather neat seeing Dysart make use of military strategy, as Moses holds higher ground, positions his defenders, and attempts to predict the enemy’s attack patterns.  The trick Moses uses to get the family out is always rather clever; as one of the character’s points out, it’s the sort of ploy that one would see perpetrated by the tricksters of myth and folklore.