All-New Invaders #2 – Review

by James Robinson (Writer), Steve Pugh (Artist), Guru-eFX (Colorist)

The Story: Revelations are always better after a violent battle against an alien being.

The Review: There is a certain complaint about comics nowadays saying that perhaps super heroes are now a good lot darker than they once were in the past. Some camps are in accord, while others disagree, much like any topic, but many people seem to particularly like comics that have a certain sensibility toward lighter or more heroic dispositions. Series like Mark Waid’s Daredevil or Action Comics by Greg Pak are currently critically acclaimed for their general positive tone, or at the very least for their capacity to let their heroes be good in an outspoken manner through their actions and words. Still, despite it all, there is always room for every type of tones in the sun, though there seems to be a certain affection for the regular super hero adventures nowadays.

However, even though there is a certain appreciation for the genre, it doesn’t mean that everything that tries to do just that will find success. All-New Invaders, so far, possess everything it needs to succeed, yet is plagued by some particularly big problems that weights it down, never letting it reach the quality it could very well attain.

Using regular super hero tropes, James Robinson does not do much of anything new in this story to warrant any actual excitement or surprises. To make matters worse, there is a certain use of the much-less appreciated faults associated with the genre that makes some moments rather cringe-worthy, like the boasts of Tanalth the pursuer, the fact that she runs away even though she is winning, the general acceptances of Captain America over rather important revelations and a few jumps in terms of logics makes this issue rather simple and much more easy-going than it needs to be in some places.

All-New Invaders #1 – Review

by James Robinson (Writer), Steve Pugh (Artist), Guru e-FX (Colorist)

The Story: Jim Hammond receives the visit of an alien being who is rather chatty about what she wants and where she think it might be.

The Review: Some writers are known for certain types of stories, certain genres. Geoff Johns is known for big super hero stories with a certain penchant for revitalization of silver age ideas, Ed Brubaker does noir very well and so forth. With these types of stories, it’s always a safe bet to understand the types of things a writer is best known for, as it does always ensure a certain safe bet in what the strengths of a particular writer might be.

James Robinson, the writer of this new series, is someone who knows how to work with older heroes, doing so splendidly in his magnum opus, Starman, as well in JSA: The Golden Age. With a certain knack for writing the legacy part of super heroes and people who have lived for a long period of time, it does seem quite fitting for him to be attached to All-New Invaders, a series about a team that did its things during World War 2. However, James Robinson is a rather uneven writer, which has been unfortunately shown in his Earth 2 series during the latest issues he wrote and in his previous tenure on Justice League of America. With his reputation, does this title seem to balance in the better part of his writing skills or is the first issue too problematic to be enjoyable?

It’s a bit of a balance between the two, for the most part. While the issue focus on something that Robinson is quite capable of writing, there are occasional troubles that comes down to plague the overall quality of the work. With this issue focusing mostly on Jim Hammond, Robinson is able to push forth his voice rather well, explaining in enough details how he landed in a small town and how he feels about his new life, getting us up to speed in the history of the character as well as what makes him tick. The general understanding of the character and what he went through is aptly balanced in the issue, with the part in which we understand the life of Jim Hammond being rather nice to read.

Animal Man #23 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (story), Steve Pugh & Francis Portela (art), Lovern Kindzierski (colors)

The Story: Buddy can’t tell which he finds more repulsive—supervillains or the tabloids.

The Review: When Lemire first took over Green Arrow, I couldn’t help noticing that most of his initial steps on that title were to tear down the parts of Oliver Queen’s life already set in place.  At the time, it seemed like a way for Lemire to assert his vision and direction on the series, to show he was fully in control.  But now I’m starting to see that Lemire simply places a great deal of faith in the stories that can arise from ashes.

If you look at how his run of Animal Man started, we have somewhat similar circumstances.  Lemire very quickly established Buddy’s contentment of being father to two rambunctious kids, husband to a good-natured (if occasionally exasperated) wife, a dependable C-list superhero, and an exotic C-list actor.  Just as quickly, however, Lemire disturbed this peaceful status quo with the first appearance of the Rot and the revelation of Maxine as the Red’s avatar.  No one can deny the story that followed was a deeply compelling one, even because of its destructive power.

Animal Man #22 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (story), Steve Pugh & Francis Portela (art), Lovern Kindzierski (colors)

The Story: For some people, just hugging the animals isn’t enough.

The Review: I’ve often thought about this, but the grind of constantly having to churn out a new villain every few issues seems like one of the most wearisome aspects of the superhero genre.  The basic good-versus-evil formula of nearly all superhero comics is pretty repetitious in itself, and since villains are the x-variable in that equation, the interest, integrity, and success of the whole thing almost entirely turns on that one factor.

The sad part is Animal Man as a property doesn’t really mesh well with that traditional superhero formula anyway.  You have to keep in mind that if the series has any lasting value now, it has very little to do with our hero’s origins as yet another Silver Aged costumed adventurer.  In fact, if not for Grant Morrison’s radical work with Animal Man decades after, the character could easily have been abandoned and forgotten altogether.  In other words, Animal Man is now really more of a conceptual property that draws its interest from ideas than battles.

Animal Man #21 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (story), Steve Pugh & Francis Portela (art), Lovern Kindzierski (colors)

The Story: Animal Man may need some backup from PETA on this.

The Review: Before I joined WCBR, there was a Justice League mini called Cry for Justice.  I don’t remember the experience of reading it, but it’s a safe bet that I glanced through the first couple issues, retched, and never looked at it again.  That didn’t mean I could remain completely ignorant of the events within the series, outrageously grim as they were.  This included the death of Lian Harper, Red Arrow/Arsenal’s daughter, and his subsequent quest for vengeance.

At the time, it struck me as odd that a person would lose his child and immediately start planning his revenge, perhaps after allowing himself a panel or two of teeth-gnashing tears.  I know I’m more given to schmaltz than most, but it occurred to me that if I lost one of my kids, there’d be a long period of me just lying in a dark room, curled in a fetal position.  The avenging part would have to wait, at least until I could summon the energy to put clothes on.

Animal Man #19 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (story), Steve Pugh (art), Lovern Kindzierski (colors)

The Story: Buddy pisses off the higher-ups and loses guest access to the Red.

The Review: While both Lemire and Scott Snyder transitioned from their Vertigo projects to mainstream ones at around the same time, it’s increasingly clear that Snyder has become one of the major architects of the DCU, while Lemire has been relegated to the position of a respected demigod within the publisher’s creative pantheon.  Even that position has grown shaky as of late, with declining quality in both Justice League Dark and even his pet title, Animal Man.

After the dismaying downhill spiral on Rotworld, it’s time for both Lemire and his hero to regroup and find their way back to what made this series so compelling in the first place.  Sadly, one of those things seems to have gotten wrecked for a while to come: the Baker family dynamic.  The death of Cliff has clearly driven a wedge between Ellen and Buddy that feels impossible to dislodge, yet this also introduces a new, compelling conflict of its own.

Animal Man #18 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (story), Steve Pugh (art), Lovern Kindzierski (colors)

The Story: And this is why you never teach your children to be heroes.

The Review: I’ve always seen Swamp Thing and Animal Man as two loving but competitive brothers.  While their bond with each other is undeniable, you can always tell each secretly wants to be seen as the better, cooler, smarter brother to the rest of the world.  The friendly rivalry between the two series has ebbed and flowed in terms of who comes out the superior.  One will win your favor for a few months, then the other will overtake for the next few months.

Lately, however, Lemire’s title has fallen behind its sibling in a way that makes me wonder if it’ll catch up again.  Though it and Swamp Thing have shared an arc and told similar stories of heroism, somehow Animal Man just feels weaker across the board, even when neither title is particularly strong.  Scott Snyder has simply made wiser writing choices and executed them with more integrity than Lemire has.

Animal Man #17 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire & Scott Snyder (story), Steve Pugh (art), Timothy Green II (pencils), Joseph Silver (inks), Lovern Kindzierski (colors)

The Story: Animal Man and Swamp Thing—reunited, and it feels so good.

The Review: The most disappointing thing about Rotworld has been the fact that at the end of the day, it’s another apocalyptic scenario with humanity on the brink of doom and a bunch of undead shambling around.  Granted, there’s plenty of stories that can be gleaned from that premise, but this title in particular hasn’t done much with it except feature a bunch of those shambling undead in superhero outfits.  Not quite the groundbreaking crossover we hoped for.

Another disappointment was the choice to separate Alec and Buddy, forcing them to find their way back to each other on their own.  Although Alec has accomplished a great deal during his time sojourning the world alone, Buddy, despite his company, has done little to help the war effort by comparison.  This series has already made it clear that Buddy, in the grand scheme of the Red, Green, and Rot, is really a second banana—but did they have to reduce him to sidekick in his own book?

Animal Man #16 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (story), Steve Pugh (art), Timothy Green II (pencils), Joseph Silver (inks), Lovern Kindzierski (colors)

The Story: This time, the Green Lanterns are really going green.

The Review: I generally don’t approve of internet speculation about the whys and wherefores of publishing or writing decisions, but I do love trying to predict what’s coming up next in a story.  With the former, my belief is unless you have a firsthand account of the business, you really have no basis for your theories.  With the latter, your basis is the story itself, as well as the vast ocean of comic book continuity that serves, in legal terms, as both evidence and precedent.

So I was mightily impressed by Ghost of Mars’ theory on my last review of Animal Man that the Lantern trapped beneath Metropolis was Driq of Criq.  For one, I just had to give props for Ghost’s knowledge of the Green Lantern mythos, and for another, considering Driq’s undead nature, it made a lot of sense for the story.  In fact, I could’ve been fairly disappointed by another choice of Lantern, had Lemire not used an even better one.

Animal Man #15 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (story), Steve Pugh (art), Timothy Green II (pencils), Joseph Silver (inks), Lovern Kindzierski (colors)

The Story: So it seems like the monster has become the master—of the monsters.

The Review: Being an ardent follower of both Animal Man and Swamp Thing can be, to use a well-worn cliché, a double-edged sword.  The sharp, shiny side is you have a plot enriched by two titles working together.  The dull, blunted side is dealing with moments where the two books cover the same terrain.  And let’s face it: if you’re reading either one of these series, you’re probably reading both.

That meant dealing with a lot of the same kind of exposition for the early issues of this arc.  Animal Man particularly suffered because Lemire doesn’t have quite the fleetness of language that his writing buddy does and he hasn’t been quite as aggressive with the pacing as he could have been.  Last issue felt like an especially low point for this series as a whole, burdened with more talk than action, and only the barest exploration of what’s left of the Rot-infested world.

Animal Man #14 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (story), Steve Pugh (art), Timothy Green II (pencils), Joseph Silver (inks), Lovern Kindzierski (colors)

The Story: And just when your ruined world can’t get any worse, enter an evil sorcerer.

The Review: I’ll let you in on a little secret: I actually dislike reviewing issues that are mostly fighting sequences—actively dread them, really.  Unless the superpowers involved are fairly spectacular and innovative, I find it very hard to say anything about them.  They tend to reveal more about the artist’s strengths than the writers, and they rarely do much to inform the story, unless of course the characters engage in some awkward exposition in the middle of it all.

And I’ve already made plain my general dissatisfaction with the Rot horde as enemies.  As mindless, one-note creatures, they serve as nothing more than pure cannon fodder, stuff for our heroes to mow down indiscriminately.  Even the Rot-infestees don’t seem all that different from the normal type of Rotling, except for the fact that they wear clothes.  Since they pose so little challenge, it doesn’t take that much effort from Buddy and his gang to slaughter them, and leaving little for me to comment about on the issue’s first act.

Animal Man #13 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (story), Steve Pugh (art), Timothy Green II (pencils), Joseph Silver (inks), Lovern Kindzierski (colors)

The Story: Buddy discovers his world can cross its overpopulation problems off the list.

The Review: One complaint everyone pretty much has about Events from either of the publishers, one I join wholeheartedly on, is how many titles they end up invading.  Sometimes—who am I kidding?—almost all the time, there’s no actual reason to squeeze them into the plot.  But you can’t deny that there’s no better way to give a storyline an epic, important feel.  When one title has a world-spanning conflict no other title notices, why should you do any different?

Such is the rock and hard place we have in Rotworld.  I’m rather charmed that Lemire and Scott Snyder continue to claim that this dystopia their stars have entered is anything more than an alternate reality, as if there’s even a chance none of this grimness will reverse course after several issues.  Can we truly believe that once this arc ends, we’ll have other heroes sitting around, reminiscing about the time Hawkman turned into a deformed, flesh-eating zombie?

Animal Man #0 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (story), Steve Pugh (art), Lovern Kindzierski (colors)

The Story: And now you know why Animal Man never channels the powers of a chicken.

The Review: Considering the popularity of this series, you can’t deny Lemire has done a good job making its star accessible to people who’ve never heard of him in their lives (read: most people).  That said, it’s always been obvious that longtime fans, particularly those of the Morrison era of Animal Man, had an “in” on the character the rest of us do not.  In that sense, these #0 issues can handily even the field between old and new readers.

Here we see Lemire integrating both old continuity and the new mythology he’s laid down, and the effect seems very unified and sensible.  Like Action Comics #0, you don’t see much in this issue that previous ones haven’t alluded to already, but Lemire clarifies some of the reasons behind certain changes and developments.  You get a sense of that these past events tie into the current “Rotworld” arc, but only in the vaguest terms.

Animal Man #12 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire & Scott Snyder (story), Steve Pugh (art), Lovern Kindzierski (colors)

The Story: Animal Man and Swamp Thing do their best Starsky and Hutch impression.

The Review: And so it begins.  Hokey and overused, yes, I know, but the line seems apropos here, considering we are talking about an event long in the works and which every fan of DC’s “Dark” line of books has been looking forward to for months.  We have here two of the biggest hotshots in the wake of the new DCU working together on two of the biggest figures of DC’s counter-mainstream culture—for a mainstream book.  That is also popular, of all things.

So excitement definitely feels deserved in this situation.  That said, the meeting between our two heroes doesn’t have quite the punch it did in Swamp Thing #11.  Buddy finds it necessary to brief his new partner on everything that’s happened to him in the last ten issues, which might be handy for readers hopping aboard the Animal Man hayride for the first time, but a dull exercise for us longtime fans.

Animal Man #10 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (story), Steve Pugh (art), Lovern Kindzierski (colors)

The Story: They may be shady people in a podunk motel, but it’s not what you think!

The Review: Ten, fifteen, or maybe twenty years in the future, I predict Lemire will be a renowned writer, famous for his revitalization of Animal Man, just as Grant Morrison is now for the same thing.  Just like Morrison, Lemire is pushing the boundaries of where our star character can go, only instead of driving Buddy Baker out to the furthest reaches of space, Lemire dives deeper inward into Buddy’s inner mythology.

The Green has always had a fairly rich lore, with its Parliament of Trees and avatars and prophecies, and Lemire has made it his goal to give the same kind of richness to the Red, which now not only has its own venerable council in the Totems, but also a whole landscape of “geographical” features, a warrior class of agents patrolling it all as a national guard against the Rot, and even a castle headquarters, the literal heart of the Red.

Animal Man #9 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (story), Steve Pugh (art), Lovern Kindzierski (colors)

The Story: The Bone Orchard, huh?  Sounds like just the place to build a vacation condo.

The Review: Besides the craft of his storytelling, another reason why Lemire is so appealing as a writer is his obvious enthusiasm for what he writes.  The guy just loves his comics, as he proves in the opening page of this issue by inserting a neat little tribute to another great Animal Man writer, Grant Morrison:  “Then the dream got really strange…I met my maker…He was this skinny, intense, Scottish guy who claimed I was just a character that he wrote in a comic book.”

So far, Lemire hasn’t shown the sheer weirdness and conceptual abstraction that made Morrison’s Animal Man so distinctive, but Lemire has offered some memorable fantasy all his own.  Each time we visit the Red, it appears a little more alien, yet eerily familiar, a place where everything you recognize gets turned inside out—often quite literally.  If you didn’t know better, you’d imagine this is what the Rot looks like: a plain of blood, bones, and flesh.

Animal Man #8 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (writer), Steve Pugh (artist), Travel Foreman (penciller), Jeff Huet (inker), Lovern Kindzierski (colorist)

The Story: Let this issue be a wake-up call to permissive, indulgent parents everywhere.

The Review: This may sound a tad hypocritical coming from someone who loves Young Justice so much, but I find the concept of kids getting caught up in the increasingly violent world of superheroics, frankly, rather disturbing.  Much as the Fantastic Four’s Franklin and Valeria try to emphasize the cuteness of the idea, I think that in any real life scenario, we’d get a result more along the lines of what happened to Red Arrow’s daughter in James Robinson’s Cry for Justice.

If you never considered this troubling problem before, you’ll almost certainly start thinking about it after this issue.  Maxine’s childlike confidence and legendary status may have lulled you into thinking nothing can really touch her, but here we see, in graphic fashion, that at the end of the day, she’s still a little kid with vulnerable flesh.  Lemire may like his warm, corny father-son moments, but he’ll let a four-year-old girl get mercilessly ravened by various animals when the story demands it.  The moment is an immediate punch in your gut, telling you once and for all that this series is not messing around with this horror stuff.

You don’t even have the comfort of feeling better when Maxine saves herself from bodily death, since it requires her to jump through some grisly body-snatching and body-disposing hoops to get it done.  Rather than charm you, her toothy smile and peppy, “It didn’t hurt at all.  It kind of felt good,” simply gives you the willies.  The only thing separating her on the creepy factor from the Children of the Corn is her obvious love and loyalty to her family, but her reckless and naïve behavior means we can’t count on those qualities alone to mean she won’t doom them all.

Animal Man #7 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (writer), Steve Pugh & Travel Foreman (artists), Jeff Huet (inker), Lovern Kindzierski (colorist)

The Story: No rest stops on this family trip—we’re on the lam from killer beasts, remember?

The Review: Practically every superhero comic on the stands bears some kind of peril within.  When our heroes are fighting to save their cities or fellow man, they’re also fighting to save themselves.  Theirs is a high-stakes business, where failure often means the loss of their lives.  What makes the danger in Animal Man feel so much more potent and real is the fact that Buddy’s not the only one at risk here; it’s his whole family that is being threatened.

More than anything else, the constant risk to the Bakers maintains the series’ choking tension.  It gives the Rot not one, but several targets to lurk after, so any time a Baker goes off anywhere on his or her own, your wariness increases for their sake.  When Buddy leaves Cliff to his own devices in this nowhere, desert town, everything takes on an ever-so-slightly sinister aspect, as if you expect at any moment some stranger’s good-natured smile will burst out with fangs and seize the boy in his grip.  No doubt this paranoia got instilled into you by the Hunters’ body-snatching tricks from previous issues.

Besides the multitude of physical dangers in play, perhaps there are even greater ones closing in on the Bakers’ spiritual well-being.  The tension within the family grows more intense with each harrowing episode.  Ellen’s mom finally airs her feelings about the whole situation, and while telling her daughter that Buddy “was trouble from the moment you first started dating” seems a bit unfair, she has a point.  Lemire has crafted a bit of a double-edged sword in creating such a strong family unit for this series, because it does make you think how insane it is to even attempt to do your superhero thing if you have loved ones to fear for.

Yet Buddy seems oblivious to the problems eating away at his own family.  You can’t deny that he’s tops in the “cool dad” department (“Cliff, we gotta go…that was the Justice League, they need us!”), but when it comes to the more deeply-rooted issues, he’s a bit too lax.  It’s not just that he dismissively asks, “What’s her problem?” when Ellen’s mom storms out.  By this point, Buddy’s had two dreams of impending doom, and while he reacts with appropriate dismay at the evil portents for Maxine, he doesn’t quite seem as attuned to the equally dark signs for Cliff.  Remember Cliff’s spilt guts in #1?  Doesn’t it seem foreboding that here, in Buddy’s vision of the “future,” you see a grown-up Maxine, a geriatric yet spry Buddy and Ellen, yet no Cliff?

Animal Man #5 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (writer), Travel Foreman & Steve Pugh (artists), Jeff Huet (inker), Lovern Kindzierski (colorist)

The Story: This is one parade of animals I can live without.

The Review: Like anything else, serial fiction has its upsides and downsides.  On the upside, there’s a lot to be said for a story that has enough time on its hands to explore any direction it darn well pleases and develop its characters as far as they can go.  The problem is for a story to go on for that long, the main character has to stick around for a good, long while, which means their survival in any kind of dangerous situation is practically assured.

That makes writing your traditional superhero comics a bit tricky, to say the least.  While the goal is to challenge their powers by placing them in some kind of peril, for the most part, you’re never all that concerned anything drastic will happen to them.  But then, Animal Man is hardly your traditional superhero comic.  From the onset, Lemire has imbued this title with a constant, sweaty tension, allowing danger to lurk on every page.

To begin with, our hero is much lower on the power scale than his League counterparts.  We saw last issue how ineffective, even at its most potent, his skill set is against the Hunters Three, and here, separated from direct contact with the Red, Buddy proves even less effective against just one of the Hunters.  Yet from the looks of things, it doesn’t seem like there are many on Earth who can handle these flesh-feeding terrors, except those with powers over flesh themselves.

Hotwire: Deep Cut #3 – Review

by Steve Pugh (writer, artist, and letterer)

The Story: Alice Hotwire races to save the city from an invasion of blue lights and the ignorance of the Bear Claw mercenaries.

Review:  As with any issue of Hotwire, it seems fitting to start with the art first.  If you’ve ever seen an issue of Hotwire, you’ll know exactly what you’re getting here.  That is, you’re getting what may very well be the best looking comic on the stands right now.  Steve Pugh’s artwork is so stunning that it defies description.  Hyper-realistic, immensely detailed, lushly painted, and with really cool high-tech, near-future designs, this comic is a feast for the eyes.  Pugh’s massive and ornate blue light ghosts are awe inspiring and I also rather enjoyed Alice’s combat outfit this month.  Pugh creates a very realized world with every issue of Hotwire, fusing science fiction with horror in the most epic manner possible.

But there are the little things as well.  Alice’s facial expressions are always a blast, making the character instantly likable.  Her little nuances of emotion are always conveyed perfectly.  I particularly enjoyed Pugh’s use of close-ups during moments of tension.  The bottom-line is that this comic looks like one of those books with a shit story but art so good that you end up recommending it anyway.

Of course, in this case, the story’s rocking too.  As a last issue, the action is explosive and there’s a constant sense of pandemonium, desperation, and chaos.  Pugh effectively manages to make the events of this issue truly feel city-wide, not just limited to our characters and what we actually see on the page.  It’s an exciting, gripping read that’ll have you flipping the pages unconsciously until you’ve reached the end.

Blue-light soldier Tom continues to shine this month, in a big way.  Regardless of his past, he comes across as a full-fledged hero this month.  It’s easy to sympathize with the guy, who manages to go from perpetual loser to hero in the span of a few pages.  Leave it to Pugh to have you ultimately rooting for the ghost of a murderer threatening the city with destruction.

Hotwire Deep Cut #2 – Review

by Steve Pugh (writer, artist, and letterer)

 

The Story: Alice has it out with her blue light ex while the hunted ghost soldier finds an unlikely comrade.

What’s Good: After Requiem for the Dead, Hotwire was quite easily Radical’s best property.  Deep Cut has only cemented that position, despite Radical’s larger roster of solid titles.

Let’s start with the artwork.  Deep Cut #2, like every other issue of Hotwire, goes beyond Radical’s trademark digitally painted style.  Quite simply, Hotwire is perhaps the best looking comic book coming out today.  On a technical level, this is outstanding, gorgeous stuff that defies description.  It’s incredibly realistic, vivid, and mind-blowingly detailed.  On a design level, Steve Pugh’s work is equally impressive; his blue lights are a perfect mix of horror and hard sci-fi, while Hotwire’s world in general is cyberpunk cool.

Pugh’s characters are similarly strong.  Alice Hotwire herself is more distinctive than ever this month in her facial expressions and body language, making her even more attractive than ever.  I also greatly enjoyed Pugh’s depiction of the blue lights’ perspective, which took on a dreamy, pastoral quality that greatly contrasted with the cold, polished futuristic world of reality.

Pugh’s script is fantastic as well.  In many ways, I think his writing of the series is stronger in Deep Cut than Requiem.  It’s clear that this arc is all about characterization.  This issue really let me feel like I was getting to know Alice, from her quirks to her demons, and it made her attractive, cool, vulnerable, and fully three dimensional as a character.  Pugh accomplishes this again through the use of Alice’s blue light ex-boyfriend.  Her struggle with him is a clear, but elegant and downright exciting, metaphor for her struggles with her own past.  At the conclusion of the fight, you end up feeling satisfied; Hotwire defeated a ghost, but also made a step forward in her life and as a character.

Given this, Alice is now fully established as an awesome lead character that could very well become Radical’s Hellboy.  She’s just incredibly likable.  Pugh’s writing of the dialogue only enhances this.  Alice’s voice is an incredibly unique one; she’s hilarious and snarky, but also socially awkward and abrasive.  Yet despite this, she absolutely adorable.  She’s basically the endlessly grumpy person that you can’t help wanting to hug.

Hotwire: Requiem for the Dead #3 – Review

by Warren Ellis (creator) and Steve Pugh (writer, art, and letters)

The Story: Hotwire visits the “maximum security cemetery” in the hopes of finding some answers about the “ghost bombs” and ends up dealing with a paranormal jailbreak.

The Good: The art in this issue is inexpressibly phenomenal. This is the best looking book yet in a series that is already quite possibly the best looking series in Radical’s line-up, which is no small feat. A good chunk of this month’s eye candy comes thanks to the “ghost bombs,” which allow Pugh to go wild with his insane “creature concepts.”  His giant metal ghost spider is a sight to behold. The jailbreak only takes the art up to another level, allowing Pugh to draw cataclysmic floods and storms of biblical proportions. Art-wise, this is a big issue and it looks amazing.  Almost every large frame in this book could easily be framed and put on a wall.

Hotwire #3 is without a doubt an action issue, and Pugh handles the mayhem well. Again thanks in no small part to his spectacular visuals. That said, in the midst of all the gorgeous explosions, glowing gribblies, and high-tech gizmos, it’s remarkable how much I’ve come to like Mobey and Hotwire in only three issues. I wasn’t particularly taken with any of the characters after issue one, but I really connected with Hotwire and Mobey in issue two, and this month, I liked them even more. Hotwire is just the right combination of sassy and outright weird, managing to be likable and engaging while avoiding cliches and remaining abrasive. Once again, her dynamic with Mobey also brings much needed comic relief.

Meanwhile, Pugh continues to do a great job in balancing the main plot with the ominous surrounding events of the riots.  It’s a really cool balancing act that adds more of a flavor to the comic while also fashioning a living, active, defined world for the story to take place in– not easy to accomplish in a four-part limited series.

I also have to commend Pugh’s handle of the ghost bombs, who really come across as genuinely disturbing. His ghosts thus far have certainly been written in an unsettling style, but he sets a new standard here.

The Not-so-Good: Hotwire #3 briskly moves the plot along and does what it does well, so there’s not a lot to complain about.  I was a little underwhelmed by Hotwire’s reveal at the issue’s end of who she was covering for, but considering this is a four-part series with few characters, I can’t really think of many other possibilities.  At least this really suited Hotwire’s character.

Conclusion: Great action, unbelievable art, and increasingly likable characters come together in a fantastic comic.  If you haven’t read Hotwire, you should.  This weird and yet oddly perfect hybrid of hard science fiction, cyberpunk, noir/detective fiction, and horror continues to be a real winner.

Grade: A-

-Alex Evans

Shark-Man #2 – Review

By Michael Town, David Elliott, Ronald Shusett (story) Steve Pugh (script & art)

It seems that a couple of weeks have passed. Commissioner Raymond asks Gaskill for help regarding the sea monster that’s been terrorizing local waters. She’s thinking that Gaskill’s father has a stealth sub in the shape of a giant shark. But who’s driving it? Is it in auto pilot? Is the giant shark even a vehicle? Gaskill’s girlfriend died (or was killed, it’s not clarified), sometime between issues and the great monstrosity, Gynplaine, is back in prison again. What a let down. I wanted answers!

We get to know a couple of new, weird characters in the meantime.While on the first trip of a casino-sub, pirates lead by the Sea Witch begin their attack. She’s merciless and power-hungry. The finger deal she does with Capone is a nice touch. I have a feeling that the Sea Witch is Gaskill’s “dead” girlfriend! One oddity I ran across was on page 12. On this page I either got censored text or a print error. The Sea Witch says: “If It’s in our ocean, then it’s ours to steal, kill, or ___ !”, What was that? I wonder if it’s only on a few copies or it was intended that way. Why censor a book like this when it’s already too bloody for kids? I don’t get it?!

The sum of this story is that it feels short (probably because it has seven less pages than the first), and contains a lot less tension. The biggest crime is I only got to see Shark-Man in two pages. For a three issue mini-series, this middle chapter feels weak. The art is still great – I just hope the story picks up for the final issue. (Grade: C+)

– Daniel Yanez

A Second Opinion

My issue was censored, too, Daniel. And yes, it makes no sense. This is not a book for kids, so why hold back? This issue didn’t hit me as hard as the first issue, but it’s still a solid read. Some of the dialogue was a bit wonky – especially the Sea Witch’s monologues, but the story advances very quickly as she makes her move against Capone. What disappoints me is we don’t get much of Gaskill or Shark-Man, which I presume are the main characters of the book. The pirates are a menacing bunch, but they’re no where near as terrifying as Gynplaine or the creature who can some out of people’s monitors. It’s still a good issue, but I wanted more.

Thankfully, the art remains jaw-droppingly gorgeous. Making a book of this quality has got to take a lot of time. The increased paper stock is most likely the culprit for the higher price of the book ($3.50), but believe me, it’s worth every penny. (Grade: C+)

– J. Montes

Shark-Man #1 – Review

By: Michael Town, David Elliott & Ronald Shusett (Creation & Story), Steve Pugh (Design, Script & Art)

What a great surprise this comic turned out to be. I picked it up joking about the name, and thought that the story would be lame and ridiculous. My preconceptions were totally wrong. Shark-Man rocks! Shame on me.

The story follows Shark-Man in the middle of a crisis. The bank at his utopian city (New Venice) is being drawn out of funds and a near by cruise is being attacked by pirates. Shark-Man does what any hero does: Help those in need. To his dismay, he’s unable to rescue any survivors. When he returns to his shark cave, he finds out the city government is after him, blaming him for the theft! The problems escalate from here, but I’ll let you find out for yourself.

The script is full of action and the bad guys are ferociously designed. Pugh does an excellent job in the art department – especially with his coloring. Hats off to him. With retooled story and art, this issue is a remake of the same book released two years ago by an independent publisher. The company sunk after #2 was published.

People are buying a comic about a bat man, and nobody is joking or mocking about it. This hero needs to be where it belongs, with the high rollers. (Grade: A)

-Daniel Yanez

A Second Opinion

I totally agree with Daniel on this one. In fact, were it not for his recommendation, I would have skipped this book altogether. Don’t be fooled by the name, Shark-Man is an intriguing title packed to the gills (pun intended) with some of the best comic art you’ll ever see. And then there’s Gynplaine – this villain is the stuff of nightmares!

Steve Pugh is one hell of a talent. I can’t wait for issue #2! (Grade: B+)

– J.Montes