Grifter #2 - Judging by the contents, I'm not sure why the cover says "Daemonites are everywhere - or are they?" I don't think Edmondson is playing much of a game about whether Grifter is imagining all this or not. Also, has anyone in the comic used the word "Daemonite" yet?In this issue, Cole's partner/girlfriend(?) Gretchen agrees to meet with him in a diner, where Cole attempts to explain what's happening. Then he attacks a cop. Relax, it was a Daemonite, but Cole still set him on fire, which freaks Gretchen out, causing her to ditch him and board a train for . . . Gotham?! Oh, not Batman, that guy sucks! This is the downside to not reading the solicits on comics I'm planning to buy. It maintains the suspense, but can lead to unpleasant surprises.
Cole introduces another cop's (probably not a Daemonite) face to the pavement, and steal his car, until his brother shoots out the tire. They have a brief exchange of gunfire before Cole escapes. In other subplots, the military leader guy who set Cole's brother after him is aware there's more to this, and he knows more than we do. Or Cole, for that matter.
This issue was better than the first, but the book still hasn't grabbed me. I don't know why, I just don't care about any of the characters. Cafu's art still reminds me of Sean Chen's, at least in the faces. One thing I wasn't entirely clear on. Cole tells his brother he saw him at the diner, but we never saw him, at least, not inside. There were a couple of panels set outside the diner looking in, including one where we see the cops roll up, and so I wonder if those are meant to be from Max' perspective.
Resurrection Man #2 - I like the two bullets passing through the sleeve of Mitch's coat. Somehow that conveys how dire his situation is for me even more effectively than the guns being discharged on either side of his head. Which is silly I suppose, but the visible holes show just how close it's coming.Mitch makes it to Portland, to a rest home that was apparently the final stop of his deceased father. Mitch meets a neighbor of his father's, Darryl Roth, and tries to get some answers about himself from conversing with the man. This doesn't help much, but Roth agrees to look him up online, because as the former supervillain, the Transhuman, he's a whiz at this tech stuff. Not so much of a whiz his search doesn't alert some interested parties, who teleport those Body Doubles ladies to Mitch's location, where they capture him. Well, his physical body. I have a feeling his soul isn't in it at the moment, judging by the last page.
I've never warmed to the Body Doubles. It feels like Abnett and Lanning (who are about the only people I've read who've written them) make them seem too spacey to be as dangerous as they are. I suppose they're certainly cruel, or indifferent to others' suffering, and that can't be underestimated, but I still have a hard time taking them seriously. Which cuts down on my enjoyment of this issue a bit. I still enjoyed it, though. I don't know whether to take Darryl's claims seriously or not. I hope he really is a retired supervillain, but it's hard to tell. The first panel he appeared he, he looks stern and unfriendly, then two panels later, he reminds me a bit of Stan Lee, with the big glasses and the smile. Which I imagine would only cement "supervillain" in some people's minds, but whatever.
Dagnino's still doing fine on the art. The Body Doubles are ridiculously cheesecakey, no doubt about it, but I'm pretty sure that's how they were designed. So I don't fault Dagnino for that. I do think his art reminds me a little less of Gene Colan, a little more of Ryan Sook this month. Which is fine, I think a Gene Colan style worked better for the first issue, with its sort of horror theme, and maybe for the third issue, if Mitch is going to be wandering some forbidding spirit realm.
Suicide Squad #2 - Why is there a cable wrapped around Deadshot's arm on the cover? Did he rappel down from the roof of the stadium? Is someone trying to capture him?In this issue, the Squad kills lots of zombies. Techno-zombies. Deadshot turns out to be in direct contact with Waller, so it seems he may have been in on the whole "test" thing from the start. Maybe. The target is a woman who seems to be the origin of the virus, or more accurately, her baby is the target. Get the baby, kill everyone else. Including one of the Squad members, who will take the fall for all these deaths. Of course, this Waller isn't competent (or concerned) enough to get her team out properly, so now they have to escape on their own, with Checkmate after them, and the timer's on their head bombs ticking down.
I'm sure Alex would have loved this, but my past attachment to certain characters is killing this book for me. I keep thinking, "That's not right, Waller wouldn't order that," or "Harley ought to be actually funny," or whatever. Of course, it's a whole new ballgame, but try telling my preconceived notions that. I suppose I should have seen the double-cross coming when Floyd didn't have a comment on his teammate Voltaic like he did on all the others.
About the art. Ransom Getty's gone, and Andrei Bressan is in with Dallocchio. I can't determine a pattern to when they switch off, though Bressan did draw the one page flashback of a person explaining how all this started. I suppose I prefer Bressan's art to Dallocchio's, as well. He's more exaggerated in his style, which makes the violence seem a little less real. Which makes it less horrifying, more absurd, which is fine with me.
I didn't notice the glowing, floaty lady in the cloak anywhere in these. was she a one-month occurrence?
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