The Weapon X concept holds little interest for me, so the creators of the Weapon X: The Draft one-shots are facing an uphill struggle already, but so far, the two one-shots I have read haven't struck me as all that impressive. For some odd reason, writer Scalera has chosen to tell the story as a quirky comedy, trying to blend in the dramatic elements as well, and the result is a book with a shifting tone that never quite fits and a lot of clunky jokes that fall flat. Kerschl's artwork is nice, conveying the weirdness of the story, but the premise of the book and the thoroughly uninteresting lead character leave me cold.
So Sauron has never been a favorite villain of mine, but I don't understand why the creators of Weapon X would decide to make him into an even less interesting character. Gone is his internal struggle and malevolent intelligence, replaced instead by brutish and seemingly useless strength and an intelligence that puts him about on par with the Hulk at his dumbest. This interpretation of the character, more pathetic than frightening, doesn't live up to the fear that the Director seems to have of him, nor does he seem like much of an asset to Weapon X, leading me to wonder why they would make these changes to him.
However, while these are nonsensical changes in the scope of the larger story, they do make sense for the story Scalera is writing. Scalera is writing Sauron as a loser, someone who can't do anything right, sort of Matthew from Newsradio only with super-powers. The problem is that he's also trying to convey how dangerous the Weapon X organization is at the same time, and get us to take Sauron's dysfunctional relationship with the Director seriously, and it's like trying to inject drama into a Pink Panther movie.
Mind you, the book does have its humor value. Some of it is due to the ludicrous nature of the plot or characters, such as Emma Frost saying with a straight face that she was casting a telepathic illusion while sunbathing just in case someone tried to attack her, but plenty more of it is due to Sauron's less-than-competent tactics. The running gag that all of his recruitment targets think he is trying to kill them, for example, is quite funny. In addition, Jack, Sauron's target, has some fun and unique powers, and Scalera creates a likable and memorable personality for the character.
Kerschl's artwork is perfect for the book, with a sort of light and cartoony approach but detailed technology and backgrounds. While I didn't think Scalera balanced the dark and light tones very well, I think Kerschl hit the balance nicely. Actually, I don't have any particular problems with any of the talent involved with the book, it's just that I think the concept is weak in general and the concept of the character and plot in this particular issue even moreso.
