True Believers #5 – Review

By Carey Bates (Writer), Paul Gulacy (Pencils & Inks), and Rain Beredo (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: If the True Believers mini-series is testing the waters for a new ongoing title, then so far it has done a pretty good job of selling the team. The odd characters are unique, the artwork is impressive, and the twisting storyline has been quite engaging. Here’s to hoping that the fifth chapter can wrap up the various plot threads well enough to bring everything to a satisfying conclusion.

The Story: The true nature of the S.H.I.E.L.D. project known as “Anathema” is revealed as the True Believers try to unravel the mystery surrounding the death of Max Trent. With all leads pointing to S.H.I.E.L.D. commander Mariah Hill, the team kidnaps her for information. Obviously, Tony Stark is none too happy about that!

What’s Good: For all the twists featured throughout the mini-series, True Believers #5 manages to bring everything together for a satisfying conclusion. And since the “Anathema” project proves to be much more interesting than I had originally thought, the True Believers successfully manage to leave a mark on the Marvel Universe. I sincerely hope the characters are used again sometime in the future, as the successes of the mini-series proves they have the potential to carve out a nice little niche for themselves.

What’s Not So Good: Despite the fact that the story finishes in a satisfying manner, I couldn’t help but be annoyed by the large amount of exposition used to iron out the plot. There is a LOT of dialogue in the book and almost all of it is used to explain one thing or another. In other words, it feels like the story relies on an information dump instead of a natural path to get to the conclusion. Another thing worth noting is how out of date the story feels when all is finally revealed. Had the series come out awhile back, I believe it would have had a much greater impact on the overall scheme of things.

Conclusion: Satisfying, yet still disappointing, True Believers #5 ultimately leaves me confused concerning the editorial decisions regarding the release of the mini-series as a whole.

Grade: C

-Kyle Posluszny

True Believers #4 – Review

By Cary Bates (Writer), Paul Gulacy (Pencils and Inks), and Rain Beredo (Colors)

The Story: Payback lies unconscious after being caught in an explosion, so the rest of the True Believers spring into action. As Battalus and Red Zone pick up on the trail of a bio-weapon that Payback’s father had been working on, Payback remembers the events that made her choose the two men on her team.

What’s Good? True Believers succeeds because it feels truly unique when compared to all the other Marvel books out there. It has a compelling cast, appropriately moody artwork, and an edgy and surprise-filled storyline that simply couldn’t be used with any of the more established characters within the Marvel universe. Also, the stories about how Battalus and Red Zone joined the True Believers are almost worth the price of admission alone. They are quite entertaining and darkly humorous.

What’s Not So Good? With only one chapter left to go in this limited series, I have a feeling the conclusion may wind up being less than satisfying. There are many pieces of the puzzle that still need to fall in place and it is hard to tell whether all the threads will end up coming together well. Also worth mentioning is that the twist-filled plot leads me to believe this story will be a bit more satisfying when read as a trade.

Conclusion: I recommend this one for those looking for something a bit different from a Marvel book. That said, be sure to track down the previous three issues before checking out chapter four. The story is a bit dense and needs to be read from the start.

Grade: B

-Kyle Posluszny

True Believers #1 – Review

By Cary Bates (Writer), Paul Gulacy (Artist), and Rain Beredo (Colorist)

Mr. Gulacy, you’ve been drawing comics for three decades now, and it’s time you learned something every other artist learns in high school: the eyes are in the middle of the head. The middle! Not two-thirds or three-quarters of the way up. I know you’re one of the classic old-school artists, Paul, but I swear sometimes the people you draw look like microcephalic mutants.

Sorry. I just had to get that off my chest.

Anyway, True Believers is a new super-team miniseries from Marvel. The team consists of Payback (personal forcefield and energy projection), Battalus (Iron  Man/Boba Fett ripoff), Headtrip (an empath of some sort), and Red Zone (whose superpower, apparently, is to appear in only a single panel this issue). Now, the last thing the universe needs at this point is another superhero team. The “hook” of the True Believers is that in addition to being vigilantes, they are also bloggers, dedicated to exposing hypocrisy and corporate corruption.

Honestly. That’s the big hook. And the contents of the book aren’t much better. In the first half, the Believers break up a doped-up, bikini-clad sex slave mud wrestling operation. Honestly. All that, and yet somehow Bates and Gulacy manage to make it neither sexy nor funny. The second half of the book is mostly exposition about the members of the team, which may or may not be reliable, since the SHIELD agent making the report is Payback herself, in her secret identity.

I would write off True Believers completely, except for the last two pages, in which Payback reveals the next hypocrite she intends to expose. This last scene is as fresh and unexpected as the rest of the book is derivative and uninspired. It’s a bit of a spoiler to reveal, but I figure this is the whole reason anyone will buy the book: the last page is a single panel featuring what appears to be a mug shot of Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic, being booked for a DUI.

I’ve got to hear the story behind that one. (Grade: C)

– Andrew C. Murphy