Talon #6 – Review

By: James Tynion IV & Scott Snyder (story), Guillem March (art), Tomev Morey (colors)

The Story: Even an undead assassin can’t catch a break from parental disapproval.

The Review: I really have credit to make sweeping statements about how fiction should be done, so there’s really no reason for you to take me seriously when I do.  But I’m pretty sure that if you want to have a character star in his own ongoing, you better hope readers can get some kind of attachment to that character, or at least enjoy seeing him do his thing, otherwise it’s going to be a pretty rough uphill battle for that series.  I’m ninety percent sure that’s key.

With Calvin Rose, the best thing I can say is that I don’t hate him; I just don’t like him, nor actively care about him either, really.  Now that we’re past the half-year mark on this series, that’s become a real problem.  Every issue you see Calvin sneaking through buildings, skirting death, tackling challenges, and yet you experience it all with this incurable distance.  Tynion’s never made our hero very relatable, and with his passive personality, it’s hard to buy him as a self-determined protagonist.  He’s more of a tool for better, more assertive minds to direct.