Forgetless #5 – Review

By: Nick Spencer (writer), Scott Forbes, Marley Zarcone & Jorge Coelho (art), Forbes, Zarcone & Eric Skillman (colors) & Johnny Lowe (letters)

The Story: The weirdness wraps up: Will the model/assassin girls kill the dude who “raped” a mannequin?  Will the sex addict, late night host dressed up in a koala costume die from his gunshot wounds?  Will the underage Jersey kids make it to the last Forgetless party?

What’s good: Nick Spencer has done a great job of STORYTELLING with this series as it wraps with its fifth issue.  You can just read what I indicated this series/issue was about in “The Story” and guess that I’d probably like it.  There is just a lot of weirdness that I dig in this comic, but what really sets it apart is that Spencer has told a good story instead of just smearing a bunch of weirdness around on the page.  All of the warped things that made me really like the earlier issues of this series are still here: like the two dudes who have hit-girls after them for “raping” a mannequin that this whacko couple were calling “their daughter”.  But this issue went beyond making me snicker about those sorts of plot elements: It made me happy as these various plots wrap up.  Pretty much all of the characters get a happy ending and that really made me smile.

This series was really a triumph of story-telling and condensed character development.  I loved the contrast between the wacky weirdness of the assassin/mannequin/koala story and the earnestness of the underage kids who just want to make it to the big party.

Artistically, this issue is quite different that the previous issues.  Gone is the Story A/Story B style and instead we get all three artists who have worked this series all smeared together.  I have to admit that I was worried about that when I looked at the opening credits, but it really came off well.  This art is just nice, simple and effective.  Perfect for this type of story.

Weekly Comic Book Review’s Top Picks

DS’ Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Captain America #606 – Brubaker has always delivered stellar writing and Butch Guice is a great artist and the two of them served up some exciting work in Captain America #606. Bucky. Is. Awesome.

Most Anticipated: Brightest Day #4 – Brightest Day has been at times great and at times a game of patience. Some of the arcs, delivered in their micro-bits, have been very compelling, but issue #3 seemed to have turned a corner. Despite the short arcs, Johns gave us a sense of things starting to come together. We are getting to Act II – the best one and the pace is picking up. And Ivan Reis is one of the artists! Brightest Day #4 tops my pull list.

Other Top Picks: Batman Beyond #1, Atlas #2, New Mutants #14, X-Factor Forever #4

Alex’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Secret Six #22 -This was an incredibly grim, ugly, and somewhat depressing read yet somehow Simone manages to avoid the trap of unintentional comedy or unbelievability that many of these sorts of books fall into.  Instead of pure depressive excess and caricature, we got something that was actually touching and human amidst all the muck, trauma, and spandex and that alone is a major accomplishment.  Also, how this continues to escape having any sort of “mature readers” warning on the cover continues to amaze me.

Most Anticipated: New Avengers #1 -For whatever reason, I find myself looking forward to this more than anything else.  What will the final roster be?  How will Bendis justify this title’s existence?  Why the heck is the Thing on this team? My curiosity is piqued and the preview looks like Stuart Immonen is bringing his A-game to the art.!

Other Picks: Birds of Prey #2, Brightest Day #4, DMZ #54, Fables #96, Unknown Soldier #21

Dean’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Daytripper #7 – The entire Daytripper series has been a clinic in storytelling and issue #7 was one of the best so far.

Most Anticipated: New Mutants #14 – The Second Coming event really got kicked back into higher gear last week in Uncanny #525 and there are only three chapters left after this issue, so this should be all action.

Other Top Picks: Forgetless #5, The Walking Dead #73, Amazing Spider-Man #633 & #634, New Avengers #1