It wasn't so long ago that I took writers Keith Giffen and Alan Grant to task for offering another dose of low-brow, gratuitous super-hero/badass-bounty-hunter storytelling in The Authority/Lobo Spring Break Massacre. On the surface, this new title appears to be in the same vein, but it's got something going for it that the more recent Lobo fare doesn't: a story. Oh, and characters rather than caricatures. Giffen, Grant and company manage to maintain the same sort of edge that served as the strongest appeal of the Lobo work, but their efforts here are a bit smarter and more entertaining. The story proceeds in a somewhat stereotypical fashion, but the predictability is to be expected, I suppose, as the creators set the stage and introduce the players. The art reinforces the edgier quality of the genre, but there's an oddly raw sophistication to the level of detail the artists achieve.
A trio of the worst criminals in the galaxy have broken out of the most secure prison in the quadrant, and the facility's administrators are desperate to put them back in their cages. The prisoners' unique abilities make them impossible to catch and control, so they turn to the man who put them in their cells to begin with. There's just one problem: he's an inmate as well. Freed from captivity, earthman Jeremiah Harm sets out to complete his mission and win a permanent get-out-of-jail-free card, but he's not going to like where the pursuit leads him.
Lyra's style is one that reminds me of the sort of European, cyberpunk fare one would find in Heavy Metal in the 1980s. The gritty yet oddly fluid and organic style suits the subject matter perfectly. Lyra's design for Brune S'maze is a sharp, striking one, but the writers are to be credited as well, as it's a great villain concept. I also like the muted, depressed quality of the colors; despite the impossible nature of the backdrop, one really gets a sense that these characters are in a prison. There are sequences that are difficult to follow, though. At times in the opening scene, it's difficult to determine which characters are the bad guys and which ones are bystanders.
Once we get past that opening prison-break scene, the story clears up significantly. Giffen and Grant offer little in the way of surprises in terms of plot. We've seen the authorities use rogues to clear up their screwups. We've seen them plot betrayal. And we've seen bad guys plan revenge of a personal nature against the hero. But this first issue is about just getting the story going, about introducing the main characters. The writers do a good job of that, and they've picqued my curiosity a bit. Still, this genre is far from one of my favorites, and this story hasn't won me over. Still, that I'm interested in it at all is a sign of some creative strength.
When I stated that there's not much in way of surprises to be found in this comic, it didn't mean the entire book was by-the-numbers. The one spin that stood out as the book's greatest strength is the setting... not the place, but the time. With science fiction, when we see humans walking inside rocketships or space stations, visions of the future -- good or bad -- are automatic and understandable. The writers use that natural assumption to great effect later in the issue, offering a slight twist I didn't expect. 6/10
