52 Pick-Up - Week Two, Part Two

GRIFTER #2 - Cole Cash tries (and fails) to explain about his alien abduction and the aliens in disguise all around them. After getting attacked by the aliens again and digging himself in deeper, Cole escapes only to be attacked by his own brother, who has been sent by the federal government to kill him. This one is falling back to "Wait For The Trade" Status. It is very well written and the art is good but it's paced like a marathon and I like my monthly books to have a little more speed to them.


MISTER TERRIFIC #2 - This issue is hard for me to summarize because so much happens in it. Seriously, I don't think any book in the New 52 manages to throw out as many interesting concepts and ideas as this one. It's very much like a good Doctor Who episode. The art is a little bit sloppier this time around but it's not bad. And while Power Girl fans may be disappointed that Karen Starr doesn't have any super-powers (yet) she still proves herself to be intelligent and a cool-hand in a difficult situation. Also, the new baddy - Brainstorm - is a close second to The Mirror as the best new villain of the New 52 line. Definitely on the pull list.


RESURRECTION MAN #2 - As with the original Resurrection Man series, this issue focuses upon an amnesiac Mitch Shellley as he's trying to remember who he was. He's tracked down by two super-powered female assassins, who call themselves "Body Doubles", who apparently know who Mitch is and have some previous relationship with him. This is a change from the original series, where the Body Doubles were just two ordinary women turned assassin who took the job to track down and capture Mitch Shelley. These changes are academic, however, and this is another solid title that is definitely going on my pull list.

Grifter #1 - A Review

We open on a blonde man on an airplane who is hearing voices in his head, which are talking about killing him. Despite all appearances to the contrary, he is not crazy. This is our hero, Cole Cash. A flashback reveals that Cole is a confidence trickster – the titular Grifter – and that he was abducted off the street while on the way to meet his girlfriend/partner after pulling a con. His abductors were some form of alien being, who referred to him as a host, and Cole was just barely able to escape with his life. The experience left him with an ability to sense when someone is an alien in a human body and to overhear the aliens’ telepathic communications. By issue’s end, we learn that Cole is apparently ex-military and that top men are nervous about what his apparent PTSD breakdown may expose and send a special agent – Cole’s own brother – to deal with him.

This issue drops us in the middle of it and doesn’t let up for a section. The plot is fairly standard Science-Fiction 101 – the alien menace masquerading as normal humans to invade from within – but we rarely see this sort of thing in a superhero book. The action sequences are amazing on their own but what I really love this book is how writer Nathan Edmondson is able to subtly introduce us to Cole Cash as a character with very little of the info dumps used by other writers on other New 52 titles.

The artwork is damn good too. Most of Cafu’s previous work has been on Superman titles and this book does have a good, traditional superhero comic look, with lots of thin lines and light inks by Jason Gorder. There’s a danger in a book like this of going too dark with the artwork, with the coloring palette being too muted or the inks being too heavy. Thankfully, the art team avoids this and creates something that is appropriately atmospheric and heavily detailed yet seemingly streamlined.

I know next to nothing about WildC.A.T.s, so this is another one of the few New 52 titles I was able to go into completely virgin, as it were. So if you’re a long-time Grifter fan who wants to know how much things may have been changed, I’m afraid I won’t be much help. What I can tell you is that this is one of the best of the new comics I’ve read so far and that it won me over with one issue.