After Gail Simone left this book, I pretty much figured I'd never touch it again. But Evan Dorkin is one of comics' humor gods, and although I always prefer his self-published stuff to the work he does for Marvel or DC, there's no way I couldn't look at this. Dorkin has definitely captured the basic idea of the character, with a twisted mix of violence and humor that fits right in with the sensibilities of Gail's run, and Bobillo and Sosa likewise have the same cartoony and exaggerated style that made Udon such a good fit. That said, while the gags are funny and this will no doubt be a fun two-part capper to Agent X, the wackiness is of a slightly different flavor that doesn't make it quite as laugh-out-loud funny, and I really miss the continuing subplots and character development that made the book more than just a gag book.
Still, if there's one thing that Agent X is with Dorkin at the helm, it's funny. He peppers the story with gags, and there's a chuckle on just about every page. He's absolutely captured Alex Hayden's psychotic, random pop-culture dialogue, with little nuances like him referring to having his "favorite foot" getting hacked off or his banter with Taskmaster, and the whole issue is full of quotable non sequiturs. Stuff like "Frank Bigelow! For the sake of my sex life, you must die!" and "Alex, I think your goatsucker's ringing" is as good as some of the stuff Simone came up with during her run.
In addition, the story idea is a hoot as well. Dorkin gets a few good pokes in at the super-hero with Alex's valiant attempts to kill an invulnerable super-hero and with said super-hero's casual attitude toward the whole thing, best epitomized by his take on the death of a number of kid sidekicks. Dorkin embraces the ridiculousness of the whole premise, and while there may not be any deep story arc stuff going on underneath, that doesn't mean the whole thing is empty. There's enough of a believable relationship between Sandi and Alex, and between Alex and Frank, that I care about what happens to the characters.
Bobillo and Sosa have also embraced the ridiculousness of the whole premise and really cut loose with their artwork. The gross decapitated head of the Chupacabra or the after-effects of wounds on Agent X have a sort of grotesque humor to them, and there's no doubt that Dorkin is helped out a lot by having an art team who can bring some of his demented ideas to life. Whether it's the remarkably unfettered passion between Alex and Sandi or the horrific (and yet hilarious) violence of Alex's attempts to kill Frank, their approach has a manic energy that reminds me of manga, notably Dragonball Z and those of that ilk.
Let's face it, when Gail Simone left Agent X, we all knew it was doomed creatively and probably financially as well, but happily Marvel has brought in some of the big guns to give readers a few laughs before the title goes off into its well-deserved oblivion. Dorkin and company have created a story that has the same rapid-fire funny as Simone and Udon, and they seem to have grasped the two most important elements of the character, which are to my mind strangeness and a shameless level of violence.
