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.

Flashpoint: Lois Lane and the Resistance #3 – Review

By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Christian Duce (penciller), Walden Wong (inker), Hi-Fi (colorist)

The Story: No, no, I said we need to get the truth out there!

The Review: I had a literary journalism major as an undergrad.  One of the required courses I took was on journalistic ethics, which included a session where we discussed how much a journalist can insert himself into the story, a debate of an intensity and heatedness that I can’t even begin to fathom now.  The point is, most of the time the journalist puts the demands of the story before himself, staying out of the action so events can proceed on their most natural course.

Despite Lois’ assertion last issue that she “has become part of the story,” her role never really reached beyond that of observer and narrator, a cipher to whom other people can tell their stories.  And that’s fine, except like most journalists, she spends far too much time focused on the splashy, action-packed side of things (the escapades of the Resistance) and not enough with the actually important points (the Amazon war crimes).

When you take a step back, you realize that in the context of Flashpoint, the revelation of the Amazon internment camps and gene-tampering experiments have the biggest, game-changing effects on the plot as a whole.  Wonder Woman’s discovery of it horrifies her sufficiently to fly off and confront her aunt (who presumably engineered the whole thing), and Lois’ broadcast of it to the world may have been just the prod the world needs to step in and shut down this madness.

Flashpoint: Wonder Woman and the Furies #3 – Review

By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Agustin Padilla (penciller), Jose Aviles (inker), Andrew Dalhouse (colorist)

The Story: Anything Arthur and Diana do, Orm and Penthesilea can do better.

The Review: Batman may be a man of mystery, but Wonder Woman and Aquaman, for all their fame and stature, are easily the most enigmatic characters in the Justice League.  They have a devoted following, and no one doubts their status as icons, but you don’t really have a handle on who they are or what they really stand for.  You can know everything to know about their origins, ideals, and powers, but you still won’t catch a glimpse into their hearts, minds, or souls.

So it makes perfect sense that even with a major Event whose storyline is half-built around these two characters, it turns out their every action has been strung along by others.  In fact, by the end of this issue, you’ll know way more about Penthesilea and Orm’s goals, and the attitudes that drive them, than you do about their starring kin.

Not that getting an understanding of these Machiavellian schemers poses that much difficulty.  Both only care about preserving the traditions of their respective cultures, mostly by making sure the outside/surface world’s ridiculous ideas of progress (e.g., peace and diplomacy) never catch on.  They offer an interesting, though vastly divergent, parallel to Arthur and Diana.  The passion of their beliefs draws them together; whatever romance they feel for one another seems largely incidental, almost irrelevant.

Flashpoint: Lois Lane and the Resistance #2 – Review

By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Gianluca Gugliotta (artist), Hi-Fi (colorist)

The Story: What do we want?  Men’s rights!  When do we want it?  Now!

The Review: Historically, resistance movements against foreign occupiers have been marginalized in importance, mostly because much of what they do tend to be, by nature and necessity, discreet and subtle.  Though overthrow of their conquerors is the endgame they strive for, their most ambitious goals usually revolve around weakening, not defeating, their enemies.  Ultimately, their efforts tend to be overshadowed by bigger, splashier military engagements.

And let’s face it: there’s a 99 percent chance that this whole Amazon-Atlantean conflict will patch up due to the Flash’s influence.  Whatever effect Lois Lane and the Resistance will have on the final outcome will be largely moot.  You don’t really expect the events of this title to really sway the events of Flashpoint in a significant way, but you can hope it’ll give you a closer look at the Amazon occupation and a fun, espionage-type story.

In fact, the plot offers a potentially interesting premise, in the Resistance’s quest for the next-gen Britannia armor that can possibly turn their fortunes around.  Unfortunately, the point gets introduced so late in the issue that you can’t possibly get too invested in it.  Instead of actually doing the work to get to the armor, the characters spend most of the time laying out their histories, setting details, and all sorts of other blather that just gets in the way of the action.

Flashpoint: Lois Lane and the Resistance #1 – Review

By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Eddie Nunez (penciller), Don Ho (inker), Hi-Fi (colorist)

The Story: All the single ladies, all the single ladies—put your hands up!  You’re under arrest!

The Review: Considering the overwhelming span and scope of these Big Events, DC has made a laudable effort to ensure the numerous Flashpoint tie-ins are as reader-friendly as possible.  After reading about a dozen or so of these, I can safely tell you they can each stand on their own, even if you never read a page of the main series.  This comes with a catch: every tie-in has to commit a certain amount of time briefing you on the primary Flashpoint facts.

Like a good half of the tie-ins, this issue starts off with the five to ten obligatory pages devoted to the Amazon-Atlantean conflict and its most infamous fallout, the sinking of Western Europe.  DnA manage to make the event somewhat more immersive than usual by virtue of placing Lois Lane right in the middle of the disaster, but even so the horror of the situation seems taken for granted.  Aside for a handful of fleeing people and some surfing cars, you just don’t see enough of the massive flood’s effects to feel suitably sympathetic with it.

And it all takes time away from the real substance of the story, where Lois Lane takes us into the Amazonian world order in New Themyscira, formerly Great Britain.  You get a few interesting bits: segregation of men and women, female reeducation camps, the conversion of select ladies into full-blooded Amazons (and possibly ogre creatures—a potential side-effect of the Super Soldier formula, girl version, I suppose).  All of these can make good, misandrous reading.