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DEADMAN: DEAD AGAIN #1
"The Quick And The Dead"
Not Recommended (2/10)
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DC Comics
Writer: Steve Vance
Pencils: Leonard Kirk
Inks: Rick Burchett
Colors: Tom McCraw & Digital Chameleon
Letters: Kurt Hathaway
Editor: Andy Helfer & Mike McAvennie
Price: $2.50 US/$4.25 CAN |
Deadman, like the Spectre
and Phantom Stranger, is a character best served with a slightly more horrific
or darker take. While his creepy schtick and sardonic demeanor make him work
well as a guest star in DC universe or Vertigo books equally, when it comes to
starring roles, he doesn't really belong smack dab in the middle of
run-of-the-mill super-heroics. However, that's exactly where Steve Vance has
placed him for this mini-series, and as a result, I'm left feeling mostly bored
by this first issue.
Artistically, the first issue is pretty
solid. Leonard Kirk's rounded style melds surprisingly well with Rick Burchett's
more angular "animated" look to provide some very effective visuals,
particularly a splash page that sets up the Crisis or the flashbacks to
Deadman's origins. While I would have preferred moodier work like that of Tom
Mandrake or Kelley Jones, the work of these two gentlemen is interesting and
dark enough for the story presented to them.
It's the story that lets me down, and
that's mostly because it's so run-of-the-mill. Flashing back to Deadman's
involvement in the deaths of various important DC characters seems a little
silly, but could have been an interesting story if it had focused more on how he
helped these heroes adjust to the afterlife. Instead, Vance turns the whole
thing into a predictable super-hero romp, with Deadman teaming up with the
spirit of the Flash to fight off a sorcerer bent on stealing souls. Super-heroes
can be ludicrous at the best of the times, but a good writer can make the
readers overlook the silliness inherent in the concepts. When a dead guy in a
bright red 70s acrobat suit and a man in red spandex are fighting an extra from
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and shouting out lines like "Head for the
light, Flash -- this one's mine!" it's hard not to chuckle.
Actually, that scrap of dialogue is
indicative of a larger problem, which is that the dialogue throughout is full of
cliches and doesn't ring true at all. Perhaps I've been spoiled with the
distinctive and entertaining dialogue of Warren Ellis, Brian Bendis, Brian
Azzarello and others, but this reads like something written in the 1970s, with
the characters showing no real distinctive personality in the way they speak.
It is possible, I suppose, that the next
few issues of this series will be interesting and will change my mind. I think
it's more likely, however, that each issue will follow this same basic formula,
resulting in a formulaic climax and a series every bit as dull as this first
issue promises it will be.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review. |
