Writers Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis prove they've still got the magic touch when it comes to combining the action of the super-hero genre and humor. Their dialogue is as snappy as it ever was during the heyday of Justice League in the 1980s, and by playing with super-hero archetypes rather than the better known icons themselves, they're able to satirize them all the more. This book has a considerable liability, though, and that's the use of several different artists. The end result is uneven, inconsistent visuals, with shifts that distract from the story rather than contribute to it.
The Third Eye sense a magical disturbance, and her Planetary Brigade teammates Mr. Brilliant and the Purring Pussycat manage to set aside their verbal jousting for a short time to stumble upon the source of the trouble. A regular joe has been transformed into a living, breathing other-dimensional portal to an infernal realm, and all kinds of demonic nasties are emerging from his body. As the team gathers to fight the hordes, the Third Eye faces the difficult task of the closing the portal.
The repeated changes in visual style in this issue are a significant problem, but also troubling was the rough nature of some of the work. Fabio Moon's work on the first seven pages of the book is rather rough and loose in nature, and the sketchiness of the art doesn't work with the story. Joe Abraham's work looks just as rushed, if not moreso. The only clean linework to be found in this issue comes from "Alfa," one of the artists with Imaginary Friends Studio. This story really calls for a clearer, more conventional super-hero style, and most of the art in this second and final issue really doesn't qualify.
This two-part series comes to a close with this issue, but it doesn't read like a second chapter of a short series. The writers deliver a self-contained story, and they pair it with an accessible script. One needn't have read the first issue or Hero Squared in order to appreciate the fun of the book. Now, the plot is a little on the predictable side, but it allows for some interesting character-driven writing in the story's denouement.
Hilarity is the name of the game in the first half of the issue, and I love the banter among the characters. I did miss the Mauve Visitor, who enjoyed much more time in the spotlight in the first issue. But the interplay between Mr. Brilliant and Pussycat as a blast, and the spin on the Superman/Batman dynamic (in the form of Valor and the Grim Knight), though brief, was a treat as well. The writers wisely make room in the story for the characters to play things straight. The gravitas later in the issue comes as no surprise, as noted earlier, but it does make for a nice balance in the storytelling. 6/10
