|
 Dynamo 5 #10
Written by Jay Faerber
Art by Mahmud A. Asrar, Ron Riley and Charles Pritchett
Reviewed by Kenne
When your half-brother is sent into a coma and you're asked to take his place. It only seems fair, since you're a shapeshifter, so his family doesn't have to know he's been injured taking down a super-villain. Well, one lesson to learn is to never make out with a girl while pretending to be someone else, especially one that your brother doesn't even know. Because, as Myriad of Dynamo 5 finds out in Dynamo 5 #10, said half-brother, a football player built like a linebacker with mental powers and calls himself Scatterbrain, might take issue with what you do while pretending to be him. Also, if your name is Maddie Walker and you've decided to take the illegitimate children of your cheating dead husband and subject them to high doses of radiation and turn them into superheroes, you might want to think carefully about what you might say when the parents of these illegitimate children show up wanting to know who you think you are endangering their children. In the case of Jennifer Chang, she's not happy and is demanding to have some answers.
So, as this issue unfolds, we have plenty of drama and intrigue to keep us amused. Maddie has to answer for her actions, while Scatterbrain and Myriad fight it out leaving Visionary, Scrap and Slingshot to play peacemakers and wait for the storm to blow over. However, they make good use of their free time as they answer the call for super assistance from the city they've sworn to protect. It's not their fault that the situation they take care of was just a ruse to give some of their enemies a chance to spy on them. As the last panel shows, the worst is yet to come.
Dynamo 5 continues to entertain and impress me. If there was any way I could nominate Jay Faerber for an Eisner or Hugo, I would in a heartbeat. Faerber is one of the most unrecognized talents of the current comic book era. Assisted by the talented pencils of Mahmud Asrar, Dynamo 5 is quickly becoming a top-tier book that ranks highly on my list of quality Image comics.
 Exiles: Days of Then and Now
Written by Mike Raicht
Art by Carlos Ferreira, Terry Pallot, Wes Dziaba, Zach Howard, Beth Sotelo, Paul Azaceta, Lee Loughridge, Mario Gully, Sandu Florea, Michelle Madsen, Arnold Pander, Vicente Cifuentes, June Chung, Wayne Nichols, Scott Koblish, Sotocolor's A. Street, and Francis Tsai
Reviewed by Kenne
Exiles: Days of Then and Now is a one-shot that pays homage to the previous 100 issues of the Exiles series, which ended it's run to make way for New Exiles by Chris Claremont. The writer is someone quite qualified to be writing this special issue even though he's never written for the Exiles book before. He was the original editor meaning that he has been on board with Exiles since it was first conceived by Marvel and brought to the page by Judd Winick and Mike McKone. Since he's quite aware of the original intention of the Exiles book, it seems only fitting that he be given the chance to see it brought to completion.
Exiles: Days of Then and Now is broken down into 8 parts and follows an alternate realities Quentin Quire as he seeks out the Exiles to help him save his world. On his journey, we get the chance to visit some of the past universes that the Exiles have visited and pay respects to a member of the team who died on a mission. Through the different parts and Quentin's quest for the Exiles, we learn how the Exiles have impacted others and where their future lies. By the end of the story, it feels like we've gotten a respectful tribute to what Judd and Mike created as we bid adieu to the Exiles of old and make way to the Exiles of the future.
My only critical comment about this story is the art. None of the artists were names that I was familiar with which leads me to suspect that Marvel chose this book as one of those books they use to test out new talent. While I have nothing against new talent, this was an odd choice. Each chapter had a different artistic style, which made it jarring when you'd turn the page to see something completely different from the page before. I think I understand why they chose to go this route, but it still makes me like the issue just a little less. It wouldn't have been half as bad if they had tried to find artists that had similar styles, but you had the more superheroic art that's reminiscent of Mike McKone and Califiore, but the next chapter would be more sketchy and independent looking like the stylings of Mike Allred of Madman. But, in the end, it didn't lessen my enjoyment of this issue and only wish that Mike Raicht had been given the chance to write more Exiles stories. Maybe he'll get his chance in the future.
|
