The first issue of this new Tsunami imprint series slipped by me, so I wasn't sure that I'd be able to get into it with the second installment. The good news: the book is thoroughly accessible. The better news: Kesel provides an intelligent, character-driven story that adds new dimensions to a character with four decades of history behind him. Unfortunately, there is some bad news. Young's exaggerated artwork works against the plot and the more grounded elements of the script. This is not a strong marriage of concept and visual style.
Johnny Storm holds a media event to show off the Fireball X-S, a rocket-powered land vehicle of his own design. The event showcases the hero's daring nature, but also his technical and PR savvy. Unfortunately, it also attracts the wrong kind of media attention. Meanwhile, as he tries to live up to his new responsibilities with Fantastic Four Inc., Johnny also makes an effort to right a past wrong, when Mike Snow, the man who's kept a dark secret for the Torch for years, shows up looking for help.
Young's sharp angles and exaggerated style doesn't suit the introspective tone of the story at all. It doesn't even tell the more action-oriented elements of the story clearly. One really doesn't get a strong sense of the energy and motion created by the Fireball X-S scene, for example. Actually, my reaction to the visual elements of this issue is pretty much the same as that I had to Francisco Herrera's work on last week's debut issue of Venom, also from Tsunami. In fact, Young's artwork here strikes me as practically indistinguishable from Herrera's over-the-top, manga-influence approach in Venom, which I didn't care for either.
Kesel also takes aim at the media in this issue. He criticizes its voracious appetite for flash and scandal, and spotlights its disregard for forseeable consequences. Sheila Donner isn't after the truth. She's after ratings. She represents commercialism with conscience, and I hope Kesel makes more use of her in future issues, though perhaps in more subtle ways.
Forget about the cover, with its depiction of a "new" Human Torch, full of attitude and youth. Kesel's story carries on with the seeds planted by Mark Waid in Fantastic Four. This is about Johnny taking responsibility as an adult while staying true to himself, but he's also taking responsibility for a mistake made in his younger days through atonement. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Torch/Snow relationship doesn't take on a traditional hero/villain dynamic... at least, not yet. Johnny's welcoming of Snow back into his life struck me as refreshingly different.
